Unusual Mix of Short Selling in High-Priced Market Leaders (AMZN, AAPL, BIDU, FFIV, GS, GOOG, IBM, MA, NFLX, POT, PCLN, CRM, VMW, WYNN)

Short sellers are selectively making very mixed short selling activities in the high-priced market leaders.  Some are seeing gains, others are seeing lower short selling.  We tracked the moves for the February 28, 2011 date and compared this to the February 15, 2011 settlement date and prior dates where applicable.  Our short interest screen included Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT), Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN).

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) saw a big drop to 7.79 million shares at the Feb. 28 date versus 9.743 million shares as of the FEB 15 settlement date.  This is back to a lower average in the Amazon short interest if you keep in mind that as of September 30, Amazon’s short interest was over 16 million shares.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a drop to 10.139 million shares short as of the Feb. 28 settlement date versus 10.916 million shares as of FEB 15 settlement date. There had previously been a rise and this is still much higher than at the beginning of the year.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) saw a large drop to 5.37 million shares short as of the Feb. 28 settlement date versus 7.073 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement.  This is actually the lowest short interest in a year.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) saw a drop to 4.826 million shares short as of FEB 28 versus 5.55 million shares in the short interest as of FEB 15 settlement.  This is just back in line with prior short interest levels.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) saw a tiny uptick in the short interest to 3.956 million shares short from 3.921 million shares as of FEB 15 and versus 3.985 million shares as of January 31.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw another uptick in short selling to 3.911 million shares short as of FEB 28 settlement date versus some 3.628 million shares as of FEB 15 settlement date and versus 3.478 million shares as of January 31.  This is four periods in a row of higher short interest in Google.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) saw a gain to 14.666 million shares in its short interest as of FEB 28 settlement date versus 14.227 million shares in its short interest as of FEB 15 settlement and versus 14.164 million shares short as of January 31.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) saw a large drop to 1.272 million shares in its short interest as of FEB 28 settlement date versus 1.62 million shares in its FEB 15 settlement date short interest.  This is the lowest level seen in quite some time.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw a large drop in the short interest to 10.287 million shares short as of the FEB 28 settlement date versus 12.438 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement date.  This is the lowest short interest since mid-December.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) is going to be hard to judge because of that stock split… This was listed as 8.3 million shares at the FEB 28 settlement date short interest report versus 4.589 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement date and versus 7.882 million shares as of January 31 settlement.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) was hardly worth noting as the short interest was 3.522 million shares on the FEB 28 short interest date versus 3.66 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement and against 3.581 million shares as of January 31 and versus 3.485 million shares short on January 14.  Short sellers are just steady here against William Shatner.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) came in by about 5% down to 9.5 million shares in the short interest as of FEB 28 settlement date versus 10.005 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement date.  This is back to what was normal so far in 2011.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) saw another slight drop in its short interest to 4.136 million shares as of the FEB 28 settlement date from 4.497 million shares short as of FEB 15 and versus 4.508 million shares as of January 31 settlement date.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw another drop in its short interest to 2.67 million shares as of the FEB 28 settlement date versus 2.862 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement. This is actually 11 short interest shrinking reports in a row for Wynn.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG