The short interest in the actively traded cult stocks and in some of the active low-priced shares can tend to be volatile, to say the least. We tracked some rather large moves up and down in this group for the October 15 settlement date versus the September 28 report.

Here we look at the following active cult stocks and low-priced short interest reports: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA).

Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw a drop to 18.17 million shares from 18.92 million shares in the short interest. The days to cover also sank down to 1.0 from 2.88. This is high short interest but down from a summer peak of more than 23 million shares of this down-and-out network equipment giant.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) saw a small drop yet again. While this was less than a 1% drop to 190.59 million shares, this marked the ninth consecutive drop in the short interest for Bank of America. Meredith Whitney even said she likes Bank of America here.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) saw another gain in the short interest to 46.88 million shares short as of October 15, up more than 2% from the 45.83 million reported the prior week. Dendreon now has a days to cover ratio that is off the chart at 15.2 days.

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) saw a tiny gain after what has been a steady decline in the short interest. The short interest is 7.9 million shares, but that is now over 28 days to cover.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) saw a huge gain in the share price this week and you know short covering was part of the issue that played into its earnings pop. The October 15 short interest was 73.38 million shares, down from 77.99 million shares the period before. The days to cover remains high at 2.25, but this short interest is still lower than its peak of 87.9 million shares back in August.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw a gain of about 4% in the short interest to 29.79 million shares, and that is still under a near-term peak of 31.86 million shares in the short interest in August. Its days to cover rose to 4.82 from 3.92 in the prior report.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw a fairly large uptick in the short interest: 48.83 million shares short versus 44.76 million at the September 28 report. This short interest is back to the highs of the year and is more than twice the trough seen in February.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) saw a huge drop of 19% or so in the short interest, The October 15 short interest fell to 32.32 million shares from 39.74 million shares short in the prior report. This is the lowest short interest since the end of June.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) saw close to a 10% drop in the short interest to 4.48 million shares versus 5.00 million shares short before. No battling 52-week lows here for this social network.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw it fourth consecutive rise in the short interest, up to 16.2 million shares short, versus 15.567 shares short at the end of September. Nominally this was the highest short interest of 2012, so these sellers cleaned house when it tanked on earnings this last week.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) saw a drop of only about 3.5% in its short interest as of mid-October. The short interest of 293.89 million shares is still elevated but under the 315 million share short interest a couple reports ago. Still, the days to cover is now 9.2 days.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) saw a 6% gain in its short interest to 39.2 million shares, but that is way down from the peak of more than 45.6 million shares short at the end of July. The days to cover is more than 10.5 currently.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) saw a 9% rise in its short interest to 95.47 million shares. This is now at a 2012 high nominally, although the 4.05 days to cover is not a high.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw almost a 5% drop in its short interest at 274.88 million shares, and its days to cover ratio fell to 3.5 days from 4 days in the prior report.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) saw a pop of 5.5% in its short interest up to 19.33 million shares. Still, this is only one day to cover and that ratio is the lowest of 2012. The peak in short selling was more than 56 million shares short back in May.

JON C. OGG

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.