The short interest report is out for the July 31 settlement date and 247 Wall St. is focusing on the active short selling in the biotech sector. Short sellers are often active in biotech stocks, but we have seen some excessive short interest activity in this report in particular.

We have compared the July 31 date to the July 15 date and have also looked back over the past year to cover these trends. As you will see, some short sellers have not been scared of the biotech sector at all. Some short interest levels are at year highs or highs not seen in months.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) had its short interest increase to 3,955,671 shares as of July 31, which was 2.71 days to cover. The prior short interest was 3,384,137 shares on July 15. This is the second highest short interest level over the past year, the highest being in May.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) saw its short interest rise to 9,538,010 shares with 2.5 days to cover. This is up from the mid-July short interest of 8,366,394 shares. This is consistent within its range of 8 million to 11 million short interest level, with its annual high dating back to March.

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) had 2,963,165 shares sold short as of July 31, lower than its previous reading at 3,191,088 shares. Days to cover is at 1.89. Biogen’s short interest falls within its annual range of 2.4 million and 3.2 million shares. The previous reading was the third highest of the year, continuing a growing trend in short interest.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) had its short interest increase to 13,239,439 shares with 2.82 days to cover. This is only a slight increase from July 15, but it marks an increase of 10 million shares from a year ago. The biggest jump was made from March to April, when the short interest exploded by 7 million.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) saw its short interest increase by about 3 million shares from mid-July to 98,473,543 shares with 6.72 days to cover. This also marks the highest short interest level for Gilead within the past year. Over the course of a year, short interest in Gilead has nearly doubled from 58 million to where it is currently.

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) may not be the top biotech by market cap, but it remains controversial even after the FDA approval of its inhalable insulin. The July 31 short interest was 72,584,807 shares with 9.31 days to cover. This is only a slight increase from the July 15 short interest level, but it is the highest reading year-to-date. The trend on MannKind has been a steady increase in short interest over the past year.

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