28 percent on ThursdayShares of uranium enrichment company USEC Inc rose almost 28 percent on Thursday, on strong results by a European rival and a favorable U.S. government report on the depleted uranium stockpile.
The stock rose as much as 37 percent to $5.65 during the trading day, before closing up $1.14, or 27.67 percent, at $5.26, to be the top gainer on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Urenco, its main competitor, released results and its comments were generally positive and suggested growing demand," said Mark Manley, an alternative energy analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder.
Also Urenco, which is owned by the governments of Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, said it had raised capital and "USEC needs to raise additional capital, so it bodes well for USEC," he said.
Manley said USEC issued a statement praising the U.S. Department of Energy for its recent decision to manage the stockpile of depleted uranium.
"Responsible management of this inventory will allow the department to support nuclear power's domestic growth in a way that leads not only to new nuclear reactors being constructed but also to a stronger, more diverse domestic nuclear fuel industry," USEC said in a statement.
On the options market, roughly 14,000 calls versus 1,908 puts were traded in USEC, five times the usual volume, according to option analytics firm Trade Alert. Bullish sentiment was 59 percent, it said.
Particularly active were April calls, allowing investors to buy USEC shares at $5 and $7.50 apiece, said Rebecca Engmann Darst, equity options analyst at Interactive Brokers Group.