Estimated short position in Virgin Galactic increases to four-month highs after its delayed commercial launch; Workhorse shorts retreat as stock finds support Welcome to this week’s installment of “The Short Interest Report" - The Fly's weekly recap of short interest trends among some of the most widely followed high-short-float stocks. Using the data from our partner Ortex.com, which utilizes the latest information from stock lenders to estimate short interest changes for thousands of publicly traded companies, this version will screen for some of biggest changes in short interest as a percentage of free float and days-to-cover ratios. This report will also continue to layer the short interest data on some of the more volatile and heavier-traded names of the week. Based on the availability of data from Ortex, the report will continue to track the trading period that covers prior Friday through Thursday of this week.
As a basis of comparison, the S&P 500 index was up 2.5%, the Russell 2000 index was up 1.0%, the Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF) was up 3.1%, and the Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) was up 1.9% in the period range.
ESTIMATED SHORT INTEREST GAINERS
- Estimated short interest in Virgin Galactic (SPCE) jumped by six percentage points to 22.6% while its days-to-cover ratio rose over 60% to 2.3 this week. This marks a four-month high in short interest as a percentage of free float, with investors questioning the pace of the company’s commercial operations launch since its disclosure last week that a possible reduction in the strength margin of certain materials will require a delay to the next round of test flights. Shares of Virgin Galactic were down 16.3% in the five-day period covered.
- Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC) estimated short interest peaked at 124.7% on Tuesday and pulled in to 110.7% by the end of Thursday, but the weekly increase still amounted to a 50 percentage point increase from last Thursday’s 61%. Bears have been piling on to the stock since the stock staged an abrupt upward reversal following the release of clinical trial data on October 7, fanning the debate over the potential of its BT5528 and BT8009 programs. Shares of Bicycle Therapeutics were down 5.6% in the five-day period covered.
- Estimated short interest in National Beverage (FIZZ) nudged up to a one-month high of 25.2% before ending the week up four percentage points at 24.6%, while its days-to-cover ratio rose over 20% to 5.4. Notably, the increase in the short position comes amid relatively slower trading volume and volatility, with the stock down by just about 1.0% in the five-day period covered.
- Estimated short interest in Tattooed Chef (TTCF) was up in all five trading sessions this week, ending Thursday higher by nearly five percentage points at 36.1% - the highest level in seven weeks. While the stock ended the five-day period covered up by 0.8%, investors are likely positioning to capture the potential for broader sector skepticism, with bellwether plant-based meat product giant Beyond Meat's (BYND) struggles becoming more pronounced. Beyond was down 12% intraday on Friday after cutting its Q3 revenue outlook.
ESTIMATED SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS
- The New York Times (NYT) estimated short interest and stock price trends have built on the theme discussed in this column last week, with continued scaling back from this month’s spike in bearish positions marching hand-in-hand with the bounce in shares. For the week ended Thursday, the short position as a percentage of free float was down another three percentage points to 9.0% - after briefly falling to a two and a half month low below 7% - while the stock was up another 1.2% at about $55, the highest level since January.
- Workhorse (WKHS) has spent the better part of 2021 as one of the more heavily shorted small-caps, with estimated short interest remaining above 30% since late April. The selloff over the course of the past seven weeks has paused however, with the stock trading in a tighter range since last week and up about 2.1% in the five-day period covered. The estimated short position has also seen a meaningful decline this week in concert with rangebound action, sliding eight percentage points to 25.4%, a six-month low.
Symbols:
SPCE BCYC FIZZ TTCF NYT WKHS BYND - $93.69 /
-14.75 (-13.60%)
Keywords: Short selling, short interest, days to cover, securities, lending, GameStop, AMC, Workhorse, New York Times, Virgin Galactic, National Beverage, Beyond Meat, sentiment analysis