Late last month, the Trump victory had sunk in and the subsequent market rally was picking up steam as Thanksgiving and the holiday shopping season rolled around again. Judging by the most shorted stocks traded on the Nasdaq, short sellers took a wait and see approach. Moves in those stocks were mixed and mild between the November 15 and November 30 settlement dates. The stand out in that time was a surge in the number of Apple shares short.

Note that only three Nasdaq stocks had more than 100 million shares short by the end of the most recent period. In fact, the top two remain very far ahead of the pack.

Sirius XM

The more than 285.13 million Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short by the end of November was about 3% higher than on the previous settlement date. That was the highest level of short interest in the past year. Some 17.3% of the company’s float was sold short most recently. The days to cover jumped from about 5 to more than 10 as the average daily trading volume plunged.

Pandora Media reportedly is courting Sirius for a buyout. Sirius shares ended the two-week period fractionally lower, though they did hit a new 52-week high in that time. The Nasdaq was down about 1% between the settlement dates. The stock is currently trading almost 16% higher than six months ago. It closed Friday at $4.54, in a 52-week trading range of $3.29 to $4.65.

Frontier Communications

After hitting a 52-week peak in the previous period, the number of shares short in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) shrank by less than 8% to around 228.96 million. That was 19.7% of the telecom’s float, as well as the seventh consecutive period with more than 200 million shares short. The days to cover jumped to more than 15 from less than eight as the average daily volume dwindled.

Barron’s sees Frontier’s dividend as sustainable despite headwinds the company faces. In the final weeks of the month, short sellers watched the shares rise almost 6% before settling up only about 2%. The stock has tumbled since then and closed most recently at $3.67. Shares have changed hands between $3.10 and $5.85 in the past year.

MannKind

MannKind Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MNKD) short interest, at almost 105.13 million shares most recently, was more than 6% higher than on the prior settlement date. It was the greatest number of shares short since last April and was 32.7% of the total float. The daily average volume plunged by half during the period, sending the days to cover surging to more than 41.

MannKind is one of the companies looking to develop an alternative to the EpiPen. Shares ended the two weeks around 25% lower, though they have more than recovered since. The stock is still more than 35% lower than six months ago to $0.65. The 52-week low hit early in November is $0.41, and the 52-week high of $2.24 was seen back in March.

AMD

By the end of month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had almost 82.41 million shares short. That was down from around 90.83 million on the previous settlement date. The latest reading was the lowest level of short interest since September. It totaled 10.6% of the company’s float. At the latest average daily volume, it would take less than two days to cover all short positions.

In mid-November, Google tapped AMD for accelerating machine learning in the cloud, and AMD’s end-of-month share price was almost 28% higher than on the previous settlement date. The stock reached a new 52-week high of $10.66 this past week, and shares closed at $10.34 on Friday. The 52-week low is $1.75.

Intel

About 77.66 million Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) shares were sold short as of the most recent settlement date. Short interest grew less than 3% during the period to total 1.6% of the company’s float. Note that the number of shares short has topped 80 million only once since June. As of the end of November, it would take less than five days to cover all short positions.

The stock looked like a bargain during the period, and its share price ended the two weeks down fractionally from on the previous settlement date. It now is more than 11% higher than six months ago, and the stock closed at $35.76 on Friday. Shares have changed hands between $27.68 and $38.36 per share in the past 52 weeks.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) short interest of around 70.78 million shares, as of the most recent settlement date, was up more than 3% from the previous period. That was 14.0% of the total float. The daily average volume retreated from a year-to-date high in late November, and by the end of the month, the days to cover had risen to more than five.

Rising cloud capital expenditures are seen as a boon to the likes of NVIDIA. The stock closed most recently at $91.82 per share, in a 52-week trading range of $24.75 to $96.62. The share price ended the two-week short-interest period about 7% higher, though it was up more than 9% for a few days around Thanksgiving.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

And Others

Rounding out the top 10 were Opko Health Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK), Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX), Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Again, the mover here was Apple, with a surge in short interest of almost 33%. We have already discussed what might be attracting the short sellers to Apple.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) dropped out of the top 10, not only due to the surge in Apple, but also a drop of about 12% in the number of its own shares short. And lingering along with BlackBerry just outside the top 10 were Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Also check out the most shorted stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange in the final weeks of November.

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