New Options Available for Antero Resources as July 18th Approaches

Investors in Antero Resources Corp (Symbol: AR) have access to new options expiring on July 18th. With 73 days until expiration, these new contracts provide an opportunity for put or call sellers to secure higher premiums than those available for contracts expiring sooner. Evaluating the options chain, our YieldBoost formula has identified one noteworthy put and one call contract for attention.

Put Contract Insights

The put contract at the $35.00 strike price currently has a bid of $2.40. Should an investor decide to sell-to-open this put contract, they would be prepared to purchase the stock at $35.00 while also collecting the premium. This would effectively lower their cost basis for the shares to $32.60 (excluding broker commissions). For investors looking to acquire shares of AR, this strategy offers a potentially attractive alternative to directly purchasing at the current price of $35.54 per share.

This $35.00 strike price is about a 2% discount compared to the current trading price, making it out-of-the-money by this margin. Current analytical data suggests a 59% chance the put contract may expire worthless. Moving forward, we will monitor these odds and provide updates over time, including a chart on our website’s contract details page. If the contract expires worthless, it would yield a 6.86% return on the cash commitment—annualized, this equates to 34.29%—a figure we designate as YieldBoost.

Historical Trading Data

Below is a chart showcasing the trailing twelve months of trading history for Antero Resources Corp, highlighting the position of the $35.00 strike in green:

Call Contract Opportunities

Shifting to the calls, the contract at the $36.00 strike price has a current bid of $2.70. If an investor buys shares of AR at the current price of $35.54 and sells-to-open the call contract as a covered call, they would be agreeing to sell the stock at $36.00. With the premium added, this could yield a total return of 8.89% if the stock is called away at expiration on July 18th (before broker commissions). However, significant upside potential could be missed if AR shares increase dramatically, thus emphasizing the need to assess both historical trading data and business fundamentals.

Here is a chart illustrating AR’s trailing twelve months of trading history, with the $36.00 strike marked in red:

This $36.00 strike price represents a 1% premium to the current trading price. As such, there is a potential that the covered call contract may also expire worthless, allowing the investor to retain both their shares and the premium received. Current data indicates a 47% probability of this scenario occurring. We will continuously track these figures, charting the trading history of the option contract on our website. If the covered call expires worthless, the premium would represent an additional 7.60% return to the investor, or 37.99% when annualized—another figure in our YieldBoost analysis.

Volatility Insights

The implied volatility for the put contract stands at 46%, while the call contract has an implied volatility of 45%. Our calculations reveal that the actual trailing twelve-month volatility is approximately 45%, based on data from the last 250 trading days and today’s price of $35.54. For further options contract ideas worth exploring, please visit StockOptionsChannel.com.

Top YieldBoost Calls of the S&P 500 »

Additional Resources:

• ONXX Options Chain
• EFTR Shares Outstanding History
• EIDO Shares Outstanding History

The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Nasdaq, Inc.