Sunedison Inc (SUNE) said it intends to slash 15% of its workforce
Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) late yesterday announced
plans to cut 15% of its workforce, as part of a broader
business optimization plan. The impact on the stock is negligible this morning, with the shares up 0.3% at $9.07. Meanwhile, in the options pits, traders have expressed confidence of late in SUNE's short-term prospects.
Over the last three sessions, the front-month strike with the biggest increase in open interest is the deep out-of-the-money October 6 put, where north of 1,000 contracts have been added. A total of 7,688 contracts are now open here, but according to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the majority of the recent activity has been of the sell-to-open sort. In other words, these
put sellers believe SUNE will maintain its perch atop $6 through the close on Friday, Oct. 16, when the series expires.
Echoing these positive vibes are analysts. Of the 14 brokerages tracking the shares, 11 have doled out "buy" or better endorsements, compared to three "holds" and not a single "sell." Plus, SUNE's consensus 12-month price target of $23.53 stands at a nearly 160% premium to current levels.
Such confidence is confounding, considering Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) has lost over half its value in 2015. More recently, since hitting a seven-year peak of $33.45 in late July, the stock has surrendered 73% of its value. Should the aforementioned bullish traders and
analysts begin to change their tune, SUNE could get hit with additional headwinds.