Technology

Short Interest in Chip Stocks Points Higher

Chip photo
Source: Thinkstock
As of January 15, short interest in several semiconductor stocks increased as investors continued to bet against PC processors and memory chips in favor of mobile devices. With only a couple of exceptions, short interest in chip stocks is on the rise again.

For Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), short interest fell 0.7% to 213.43 million shares. About 4.3% of Intel’s float was short. Intel has already reported fourth-quarter results that missed EPS estimates, so the shorts are clearing out, waiting for the next round of buying to bolster the share price and give them more headroom for a profitable short sale.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) saw short interest rise by 1.6% to 122.94 million shares, or 23% of the company’s total float. AMD, like Intel, has already reported fourth-quarter results and the share price has been sinking — not the direction short sellers like to see.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) short interest rose 6.7% to 21.21 million shares, which represents about 1.3% of the company’s float. Qualcomm reports quarterly results Wednesday and is expected to post EPS of $1.18 on revenues of $6.66 billion. Since January 15, shares are down more than $2.00.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) saw an 18.8% drop in short interest to 5.61 million shares, which represents about 1.2% of the total float. There is no date scheduled yet for the company’s earnings announcement, but analysts expect EPS of $0.26 on revenues of $295.94 million. Both numbers are above the company’s year-ago results.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) showed a rise of 2.8% in short interest to 118.31 million shares, or about 12% of its float. Short interest in Micron hit a peak of 133.4 million shares at the end of November, and the company’s shares are up 8.5% since then. Shorts must be thinking that now is a good time to get back into the stock.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) saw short interest rise by 3% to 22.31 million shares, or about 10% of the company’s float. The stock is up more than 10% since mid-October and posted a 52-week high just about a week ago. That is sure to get short sellers interested.

Short interest in Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) rose 17.3% to 12.33 million shares. That is 2.2% of the total float. Broadcom is scheduled to report results on Thursday, and analysts estimate EPS at $0.57 on revenues of $2.02 billion. Both figures are below last year’s totals.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) posted a 22.4% increase in short interest to 9.9 million shares, or about 3.1% of Marvell’s float. Over the past 12 months, the stock is up more than 57%. Shorts expect that something has to give pretty soon, especially given the company’s dependence on the disk drive business.

Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) short interest rose by 11% to 59.52 million shares, or about 11% of the company’s float. Nvidia stock is up nearly 23% in the past 12 months, and it posted its 52-week high earlier this month. This also looks to be an opportunity for short sales.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) saw short interest fall by 2.1% to 22.85 million shares, or 2.1% of the float. TI reported earnings last week, pulling the shares back from a 52-week high and cooling, for the moment at least, any added interest from short sellers.

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