Professional short-sellers have changed their ways this year. They have limited their exposure to risk after taking heavy losses earlier in 2021 as traders using Reddit’s WallStreetBets channel and other social media bid up prices of stocks the pros had bet against.
But there are still stocks with heavy short interest that have been bid up recently. Below is a new list using the same criteria we used to pull this list of heavily shorted stocks during the Reddit/Robinhood mania in late January.
Short-selling
First, a quick review of terms:
Biggest short squeezes
Late in January, we listed heavily shorted stocks that had shot up the most that month. We began with the components of the Russell 3000 Index
RUA,
So now we have used the same method. According to FactSet’s most current data, there were only 20 stocks among the Russell 3000 whose shares available for trading were at least 25% sold short as of June 11. Here they are, sorted by how much the shares had appreciated for four weeks (from May 14) through June 11:
(FactSet)
The biggest short squeeze in the Russell 3000 appears to be Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.
SPCE,
Workhorse Group Inc.
WKHS,
AMC ranks fourth on the list, with a 32% gain in four weeks and 25.58% short interest. AMC, GameStop and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
BBBY,
A changed market
Getting back to that 40.38% short interest for Workhorse, Brad Lamensdorf, who co-manages the AdvisorShares Ranger Equity Bear ETF
HDGE,
There are now only nine stocks among the Russell 3000 shorted more than 30%. During a follow-up interview on June 14, Lamensdorf said hedge fund managers were reducing their use use of leverage to take short positions.
“They don’t need as many shorts. They think in this environment shorting isn’t helping them hedge risk — it is actually creating more risk,” he said.
Lamensdorf went on to say that anecdotally, hedge fund managers have been using “complete buy stops,” to automatically cover short positions more quickly than they used to.