Random Direction in Short Interest Levels of High-Priced NASDAQ Favorites (AMZN, AAPL, BIDU, FFIV, FSLR, GOOG, NFLX, PCLN, QCOM, WYNN)

The May 31, 2011 short interest data is now out and there was a very mixed bag in the world of short selling when it comes to the NASDAQ’s high-priced share leaders.  We have tracked the short interest in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN), QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN).

We compared the short interest of May 31 to the May 13 settlement dates and then added in color on how this compares to the recent past in the short interest.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) saw a large drop giving back on its prior gains in short selling.  The May 31 data showed 8.026 million shares short versus the May 13 settlement date’s 10.163 million shares in the short interest.  The last report before had been the highest reading since last November.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a another drop down to 10.872 million shares in the short interest on May 31 settlement date.  This was 11.666 million shares at the May 13 date versus 13,349,219 shares as of April 29.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) rose yet again as the pressure on China companies was high.  At the May 31 settlement date, there were 6.527 million shares in the short interest versus the May 13 level of 6.364 million shares.  Again, this is the highest reading since mid-February.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) saw a rather large jump in bets against the stock.  As of the May 31 settlement date there were 3.542 million shares versus the May 13 settlement date reading of 2.826 million shares.  At the last report that was the lowest short interest reading going back one year.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw another big increase in short selling.  As of May 31 settlement date that was over 21.2 million shares in the short interest versus the May 13 settlement date’s reading of almost 17.5 million shares.  This is actually another high in the short interest going back for a full year now.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw a drop in the short interest to 3.801 million shares in the short interest at the May 31 settlement date.  May 13 had 4.327 million shares in the short interest versus a reading of 3.969 million shares short as of April 29.  This looks like a return to average levels.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw another gain in short selling to 11.262 million shares versus 10.749 million shares in the short interest from May 13.  The short selling remains without a pattern if you go back in time when it was higher.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) saw another drop, but a small drop, in its short interest.  The May 31 reading was 3.528 million shares in the short interest versus the May 13 settlement date of 3.67 million shares.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) saw a small gain in the short interest as the reading was 17.316 million shares as of the May 31 date.  This was 16.139 million shares as of May 13 versus 21.99 million as of April 29.  On average, the short interest remains low here.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw a small drop in the short interest after three consecutive gains.  The May 31 short interest was 3.027 million shares, down from the May 13 settlement date short interest of 3.31 million shares.  Before this reading, the last reading had been the highest going back to January.

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JON C. OGG