Shares of USEC Inc. (USU) , a leading supplier of uranium-enriched fuel processed for use in nuclear power plants, have been subjected to highly unusual and suspicious trading activity over the last week on no major announcements.
With USEC trading on over 20 times normal volume for no reason, the company is raising eyebrows on Wall Street. Shares spiked 98 percent on Monday and have almost quadrupled since July 12. The stock reached as high $15 during afternoon trading on Monday, closing at $11.98.
Although the company acknowledged the unusual trading activity via a press release, it provided no hints at the reasoning behind the trading action. “The company stated that its policy is not to comment on unusual market activity,” read the statement.
Twitter speculated Monday afternoon that the company could be on the verge of a buyout or is simply the subject of a good old-fashioned short squeeze amid broad gains in uranium stocks. Both of these ideas, however, are pure conjecture at this point in time.
USEC recently company announced that its “Megatons to Megawatts” program, which aims to downblend 475 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium into fuel for nuclear power plants, was 95 percent complete as of June 24. The company also executed a 1-25 stock split on July 1. However, these events don't seem to be related to the unusual stock activity.
