The shorts piled out of Home Deport (HD) in March, dropping short interest 36 million shares from a total of 72 million in February. The interest was cut in half.

HD is actually down slightly this year, about 4%. But, the company has talked about selling its wholesale division, and there are still rumors that private equity will try to buy the entire company. With a market cap of $78 billion, that would have seemed unlikely, but with the Carlyle Group raising $15 billion for its new fund, the idea may not be so far-fetched.

Home Depot also remains committed to its plan to put banking operations in its stores. Positive news on that front could help the stock.

And, finally, there is always talk about a recovery in housing, believeable or not.

Douglas A. McIntyre