Today’s tickers: ANR, DWA & PVR
ANR – Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. – Front month put options changing hands on coal producer, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc., this morning suggests some traders are positioning for shares in the name to extend losses, with the stock down roughly 8.0% to a six-month low of $5.50. Coal stocks are being pressured for a second consecutive session on news released Friday that Walter Energy pulled out of a $1.55 billion refinancing loan due to market conditions. Traders bracing for Alpha’s shares to continue to slide in the near term snapped up roughly 3,000 puts at the Jun $5.5 strike for an average premium of $0.09 apiece today. The contracts make money at expiration if shares in ANR decline another 3.0% from the current price of $5.58 to settle below the average breakeven point at $5.41. Shares in the name last traded below $5.41 back in September of 2012.
DWA – Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc. – Upside call options are active on Dreamworks this morning, with shares up as much as 8.5% near the open at a new 52-week high of $24.75 after the maker of animated feature films announced a multi-year deal to provide original content to video-streaming services company, Netflix. Traders positioning for shares in DWA to continue to climb picked up roughly 1,000 calls at the Jul $25 strike for an average premium of $0.63 apiece. Call buyers stand ready to profit at expiration next month should shares in Dreamworks climb another 3.5% to top $25.63.
PVR – PVR Partners L.P. – The owner and operator of natural gas pipelines and processing plants popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner on Monday morning due to heavier than usual activity in bearish puts on the stock. Shares in PVR Partners L.P., formerly known as Penn Virginia Resources Partners, L.P., are currently unchanged on the day at $27.19 as of 1:05 p.m. ET, but rallied 0.75% earlier in the session to $27.39, the highest level since January. The most traded contracts on PVR today are the Nov $22.5 strike puts, with more than 1,100 lots in play versus open interest of just 192 contracts. Time and sales data suggests most of the far out-of-the-money puts were purchased for an average premium of $0.75 each. The trader or traders purchasing the bearish contracts may profit at expiration in the event that PVR’s shares plunge 20% from the current level to trade below the breakeven price of $21.75.
Caitlin Duffy
Equity Options Analyst
