These 3 Stocks with High Short Interest Have Been Explosive

Short interest can help investors gauge sentiment.

Not only can high short interest identify potential high risks, it can also be a sign of a possible short squeeze situation – especially if the stock in question has been rocketing higher.

In fact, here are three you may want to pay close attention to.

Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS): With 31% of its float short, KSS has been explosive. In fact, since bottoming out at around $10.25 in August, the retailer’s stock is now up to $16.43. Fueling upside, Citi has a 90-day positive catalyst watch on Kohl’s with a price target of $19 a share.

The firm provided the 90-day watch as “improved comparable store sales comparisons in the second half of this year and an acceleration in web traffic suggest the consensus expectations for the department store are ‘overly conservative,’” as noted by Seeking Alpha.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN): With 28% of its float short, SOUN has also been explosive. Since bottoming out at around $12 in August, SOUN is now back up to $17.71. Helping, analysts at H.C. Wainwright just raised its price target on SOUN to $28 from $18, with a buy rating. The firm predicted “material outperformance” in the coming periods, with third-quarter results in November potentially serving as a catalyst, as noted by Investing.com.

The stock is also up on news of Red Lobster, and it announced a partnership to roll out an AI-powered phone ordering agent.

Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG): With a short interest of about 30%, Plug Power is also among the most heavily shorted stocks. However, it’s also been explosive, running from a September low of about $1.41 to a recent high of $4.58. Now back to $2.79, there’s still a good deal of potential upside opportunity here.

Helping, analysts at H.C. Wainwright raised its price target on PLUG to $7 with a buy rating. The firm argued that green hydrogen could become price-competitive if electricity prices trend higher. The firm also expects Plug Power to generate $11 billion in revenue by 2035, as compared to its earlier estimate of $7 billion.