Bears undeterred by ongoing "short-squeeze" jump in Bed Bath & Beyond; Weber shorts positions grow ahead of earnings on Monday 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 report will screen for some of biggest changes in short interest as a percentage of free float and days-to-cover ratios while also considering 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 tracks the trading period that covers prior Friday through Thursday of this week. As a basis of comparison for stocks discussed below, the S&P 500 index was up 1.3%, the Russell 2000 index was up 3.6%, the Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF) was up 0.5%, and the Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) was up 2.6% in the period range.
SHORT INTEREST GAINERS
- Estimated short interest in Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) has nudged higher to new multi-month highs this week, rising from 46.1% to 47.2%, which marks a fresh 18-month high. The stock has also had a surge in volume, beginning with Monday’s off-the-charts 122.7M share volume day – the largest in years. Bed Bath Beyond - the new front-man for the “meme stock trade” - was up 73% in the five-day period covered through Thursday, though the stock was also up another 20% on Friday at the time of writing.
- Estimated short interest in Blue Apron (APRN) saw the sharpest relative jump within our screen, rising from 26.8% to 51.2% - a multi-year high. The company reported another earnings loss for Q2 this Monday and cut its FY22 guidance in pre-market hours on Monday, though the management also forecast revenue acceleration in the second half of the year and maintained its forecast of reaching positive free cash flow next year, sending the stock higher by double-digits that day. In the five-day period covered through Thursday, Blue Apron shares were up 15.7%.
- Ortex-estimated as well as exchange-reported short interest position on Revolve Group (RVLV) had tracked sideways over the first half of 2022, but the bearish positioning has been on the rise since early July and looks to have accelerated that build this week. Short interest as a percentage of free float was up almost five percentage points this week to 31.7% - the highest level since November of 2020. Likewise, days to cover on the name saw a multi-month high on Monday of 4.9 before coming down to 4.1. The company has performed well this week relative to its internet retail peers with a 6.7% gain in a five-day period covered through Thursday.
- Chewy (CHWY) has been among the best performing names in Internet Retail industry this past week, breaking out to its highest level in over four months with a double-digit advance. Estimated short interest on the name is also moving higher however, with a three percentage move to 23.8%. The short position bottomed late last month at a 7-week low just north of the 20% mark. In the five-day period covered, Chewy shares were up 11.7%.
- Grilling has been viewed as one of the biggest losers in the post-pandemic / high-food-inflation environment, and we’ve seen continued under-performance by Traeger (COOK) and Weber (WEBR) relative to their Consumer Cyclical Fixtures/Appliance peers. The former has just reported a downbeat Q2 last night and cut its guidance, while the latter reports on Monday and has been in the spotlight for its high short position relative to float. Estimated short interest on Weber was up another three percentage points to 56.8% this week, which is also among the largest in our screen and the highest in about a month. In the five-day period covered, shares of Weber ended down 0.4%, though the stock is down 2.6% on Friday in sympathy with today’s 6% decline in Trager.
SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS
- Estimated short interest in Revlon (REV) has been coming down since mid-July, though this week has seen a particularly steep retreat as short percentage of free float was cut from 71% all the way to 25% - a four-month low. The company also reported its Q2 results this week and update that in connection with its June 15th bankruptcy, it has received $575M of new money debtor-in-possession financing. In the five-day period covered, Revlon shares were down 12.1%.
- Estimated short interest in GameStop (GME) slipped to the lowest level since mid-June as appetite for meme stocks resurfaced in force on Monday. Shorts as a percentage of free float were down from 24.4% to 19.9% and days-to-cover on the name was off by 50 basis points at 6.05, though the stock was up a modest 2.8% in the five-day period covered through Thursday.
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BBBY APRN RVLV CHWY COOK WEBR REV GME Keywords: Short selling, short interest, days to cover, securities, lending, utilization, sentiment analysis, AMC, GameStop, Bed Bath Beyond, Blue Apron, Revolve, Weber, Chewy, Revlon