Alpha Cuts 2026 Coal Volume Outlook After DTA Damage

The Tip Desk · August 7, 2026 · 4 min read

The metallurgical coal miner now sees 13.2 million to 14.0 million tons of met shipments and cost of coal sales of $103.00 to $107.00 a ton.

Alpha Metallurgical Resources (AMR), a Tennessee-based supplier of metallurgical coal, cut its 2026 sales-volume outlook and raised its cost-of-coal-sales range after high-wind storm damage at Dominion Terminal Associates in June and continued weakness in met coal prices.

The company now guides metallurgical shipments at 13.2 million to 14.0 million tons and total Met segment shipments at 14.2 million to 15.4 million tons. Cost of coal sales is now expected at $103.00 to $107.00 a ton. Chief executive Andy Eidson said the company closed the first half with fewer tons shipped and higher costs than expected, and that the reduced volume guidance for the rest of the year incorporates lower efficiency at DTA. Alpha said it plans to mitigate that loss in part by using throughput capacity at other East Coast terminals.

Second-quarter results showed the same squeeze. The miner reported a net loss of $12.3 million, or $0.96 a share, and Adjusted EBITDA of $25.6 million. Coal revenues were $491.5 million. Tons sold were 3.5 million.

Non-GAAP coal sales realization for the Met segment fell to $118.71 a ton. Met coal excluding thermal realized $124.30 a ton. The mix shifted toward lower-priced export contracts: other-pricing export coal accounted for 48% of met tons, or 1.5 million tons at $109.08 a ton. Domestic met coal was 30% of met tons, or 0.9 million tons at $134.37 a ton. Australian-indexed export coal was 22% of met tons, or 0.7 million tons at $143.82 a ton. Thermal coal volumes were 0.4 million tons at $79.36 a ton.

Non-GAAP cost of coal sales per ton declined to $103.07 from $107.98 in the first quarter, when Eidson had cited war-related diesel and supply-price increases and said the company expected better cost performance later in the year. That expectation did not hold. Eidson said the higher cost guidance reflects fewer shipped tons for the year and the continuation of higher supply costs.

GAAP coal margin per ton was $1.69. Non-GAAP coal margin per ton was $15.64. Operating cash flow was $39.9 million. Capital expenditures were $45.1 million.

As of June 30, total liquidity was $447.8 million, including $307.6 million of cash and cash equivalents, $30.9 million of short-term investments, and $184.3 million of unused availability under the asset-based revolving credit facility, offset by a $75.0 million minimum liquidity requirement. Long-term debt, including the current portion, was $11.4 million. The company had no amounts borrowed under the ABL and $40.7 million in letters of credit outstanding.

Under a $1.5 billion share-repurchase authorization, Alpha had bought about 7.0 million shares at a cost of about $1.2 billion, or about $166.29 a share, as of July 31. Shares outstanding were 12,679,045, excluding unvested equity awards.

As of July 30, Alpha had committed and priced about 70% of its 2026 metallurgical coal at an average of $128.17 a ton. At the midpoint of guidance, thermal coal was fully committed at $75.94 a ton. Committed and priced metallurgical volumes totaled 9.5 million tons, split between 3.8 million domestic tons at $136.18 and 5.7 million export tons at $122.77. Committed Met segment volumes were 10.8 million tons at $121.94. Remaining committed metallurgical volumes were unpriced.

Full-year guidance also includes SG&A of $53 million to $59 million, idle operations expense of $24 million to $32 million, net cash interest income of $2 million to $6 million, depreciation, depletion and amortization of $160 million to $174 million, capital expenditures of $148 million to $168 million, and capital contributions to equity affiliates of $35 million to $45 million. The cash tax rate is guided at 0% to 5%.

Eidson said that once the insurance-claims process advances and conversations with third-party equipment providers continue, terminal leadership should gain additional clarity on a longer-term plan for replacing the stacker reclaimer. In the near term, he said the company remains appreciative of DTA leaders’ cooperation in keeping the terminal running as well as possible.