Between the December 15 and December 31 settlement dates, Intel was the most significant mover among the most heavily shorted stocks traded on the Nasdaq. Short sellers fled as the semiconductor giant completed a merger. The number of shares short in Apple also fell somewhat, but not enough for it to drop out of the top 10.
Note that the four most shorted Nasdaq stocks all had more than 120,000 shares short by the end of the period.
Frontier Communications
After rising around 4% in each of the past two periods, the short interest in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) retreated more than 2% to come in at around 166.32 million shares by year’s end. That was 14.3% of the telecom’s float. The days to cover dropped to less than 12 as the average daily volume increased. Shares ended the short interest period about 1% lower; that was before the recently announced board shake-up. That pullback compared to a fractional drop for the Nasdaq. The share price is down more than 6% year to date. The stock closed most recently at $4.38, within a 52-week trading range of $4.19 to $8.46.
Sirius XM
The more than 147.38 million Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short at the end of December was down more than 5% from the previous settlement date. That was 7.2% of the company’s float. Last year’s peak short interest of more than 160 million was back in August. At the current average daily volume, it would take more than six days to cover all short positions. Sirius signed a critical new deal with Howard Stern in December. The share price ended the two-week period about where it began, despite being down almost 3% at one point. The stock has declined almost 7% since. Shares ended Tuesday at $3.79, in a 52-week range of $3.31 to $4.20.
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