The 5 Most Heavily Shorted Stocks on the New York Stock Exchange

The most heavily shorted stocks on the New York Stock Exchange between the November 14 and November 28 settlement dates saw rising short interest, particularly Kinder Morgan and Vale, which saw double-digit percentage increases. AMD was the exception, but the number of shares short was pretty much the same as in the previous period. The top five all had more than 100,000 shares short at the end of the period.

The number of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) shares short rose 3.2% in the final two weeks of the month to almost 256.29 million. That was the highest level of short interest in at least a year, and it represents 4.9% of the float. At the current average daily volume, it would take more than 13 days to cover all short positions. A dividend hike is expected before the end of the year. AT&T shares pulled back more than 2% in the two-week period to November 30, and they dropped about another 6% or so since and closed at $32.89 Tuesday. The 52-week range is $31.74 to $37.48.

After rising for eight straight periods, short interest in Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) landed at about 200.94 million shares on November 28, a year-to-date high and more than 10 times as many shares short as back in September. That was 31.0% of the total float. It would take about three days to cover all short positions. We took a look at how Kinder Morgan would be treated by mutual funds after its big merger. The share price rose about 4% during the two-week period but pulled back a bit after. Shares closed at $40.65 and have traded in a range of $30.81 to $42.49 in the past year.

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The more than 15% increase in short interest in Brazilian miner Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) during the period brought the number of shares short to more than 184.98 million. That was the greatest number of shares short in the past year, and it would take about six days to cover all short positions. Shares closed at $7.94 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $7.80 to $15.59. They rose more than 6% during the two-week short-interest period, before continuing their decline that began before the presidential elections in October.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) saw a marginal drop in short interest to more than 143.30 million shares by the end of the month. That totaled 22.8% of the company’s float, and it was down more than 6% from the peak number of shares short in July. The days to cover rose to about 12. A shareholder sued the company over CEO compensation in November, and the stock’s price rose then fell back in the two-week period. The stock is down more than 33% year-to date and closed at $2.59 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $2.49 to $4.80.

Mexican concrete producer Cemex SAB de C.V. (NYSE: CX) saw the number of its shares short increase by a little more than 3 million from the previous period to around 112.02 million by the end of November. That was a gain of almost 3% and represents about 9.1% of the total float. At the current average daily volume, it would take about 15 days to cover all short positions. Cemex is expected to return to profitability in 2015. Shares ended the two-week period about 2% lower, though they are down more than 8% since. Shares closed at $11.11 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $10.76 to $13.82.

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Rounding out the top 10 are J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), Transocean (NYSE: RIG) and Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC). Short interest was essentially flat to down marginally in these stocks during the period.