Investing

The 5 Most Shorted NYSE Stocks: Short Sellers Still in Retreat

Trey Thoelcke

Published: May 11, 2016 6:20 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 9:35 am

As the markets reached all-time highs last month, the short sellers were in retreat, judging by the moves in the most heavily shorted stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange between the April 15 and April 29 settlement dates. One of the leaders of that trend was copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan, with a double-digit percentage decline in the number of its shares short. But bucking that trend was Brazilian iron miner Vale.

Note that the five most shorted NYSE stocks still all had more than 125 million shares short at the end of the most recent settlement period.

Though its short interest dropped about 6% between settlement dates, Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) held on to its place at the top of the list. The more than 188.71 million shares short reported most recently totaled 30.2% of the float. The days to cover rose from nine to 14 as the daily average volume shrank. Merrill Lynch was disappointed in Sprint’s latest earnings report. Its share price was up nearly 6% twice during the two-week period but ended up down more than 4%. The S&P 500 retreated fractionally in that time. The stock closed most recently at $3.50. That is more than 3% lower than at the beginning of the year. The 52-week trading range is $2.18 to $5.29.

The number of Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) shares short grew by more than 12.75 million in the two weeks from the lowest level of short interest in the past year more than 162.31 million. At the most recent average daily volume, it would take about four days to cover all short positions. The Brazilian miner posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit. Vale’s shares ended the short-interest period around 7% higher, though it was down more than 3% at one point. The stock closed most recently at $4.55, up more than 38% year to date, but also more than 38% lower than a year ago. The share price has ranged from $2.13 to $7.74 in the past 52 weeks.

24/7 Wall St.
The 5 Most Shorted Nasdaq Stocks: Short Sellers Still Cautious