Asana Short Interest Rises to 35.8%
Welcome to this week's installment of "The Short Interest Report" - The Fly's weekly recap of short interest trends among some of the most widely followed high-short-float stocks. Using the data from our partner, which utilizes the latest information from stock lenders to estimate short interest changes for thousands of publicly traded companies, this report will screen for some of biggest changes in short interest as a percentage of free float and days-to-cover ratios while also considering the short interest data on some of the more volatile and heavier-traded names of the week. Based on the availability of data from Ortex, the report tracks the trading period that covers prior Friday through Thursday of this week, excluding holidays. As a basis of comparison for stocks discussed below, the S&P 500 index was up 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3%, the Russell 2000 index was flat, the Russell 2000 Growth ETFwas flat and the Russell 2000 Value ETFwas down 0.2% in the four-day trading session range through June 4th.SHORT INTEREST GAINERSAs profiled here in mid-April, the workflow management company Asanahas continued to find itself at the epicenter of "SaaS-pocalypse", and while a better than feared Q1 earnings report and raised guidance on May 28th has emboldened traders looking for oversold value, the bears see the two-day 36% bounce as more of a "dead cat" variety. This week, Ortex-reported short interest on the stock hit fresh record high, rising from 32.6% to 35.8%, with the earnings event related spike in volume pressuring days-to-cover to stay unchanged at 5.0. The stock was up 21% in the five-day period covered through Thursday, but the retreat in overall Tech space on Friday saw Asana shares slip 3%. The stock is now down 43% year-to-date.Ortex-reported short interest in Grouponhad been sloping upward gradually since the start of the year and through April, rising from 37% to about 48%. A bout of volatility in mid-April and a post-earnings jump in the stock price on May 8th coincided with a meaningful pickup in short positioning. This week however, despite shares falling 13% in the five-day period covered through Thursday and another 11% on Friday, bears are still positioning for a deeper retracement. Short interest as a percentage of free float hit new record highs, rising from 54.9% to 66.8%. Similarly to Asana, in spite of record highs in short interest, the sustained increased in trading activity has pressured the days-to-cover component from 6.5 to 6.3 – a six-month low.Ortex-reported short interest in Pagaya Technologiestroughed at a two month low of 21.1% late last week but bounced relatively sharply this week, jumping from 22.1% to 24.5% - the highest level in about 8 months. With trading volume largely steady, days-to-cover on the name rose from 4.3 to 4.8 – a one-year high. Meanwhile, the stock price for the AI-driven fintech continues to respect the mid-March bottom, trading in a sideways pattern for much of the past four months. This is a welcome change from the more pronounced sell-off to start the year -while Pagaya was up about 11% in the five-day period covered through Thursday, taking into account Friday's 6% slide, the stock is still down 30% year-to-date.SHORT INTEREST DECLINERSOrtex-reported short interest in Wolfspeedpeaked at extreme short positioning levels of over 130% - notably the top of our screen for stocks with outsized short interest and at least $1B in market cap – on May 27th, roughly coinciding with the peak in the stock price that capped a five-fold rally in a span of only about two months. With shares retrenching however, the bears are quick to book profit with a "tight leash" on exposure. This week, short interest as a percentage of free float in Wolfspeed fell from 131.1% to 112.5% and days-to-cover slipped from 6.0 all the way down to 4.7. Prior to Friday's 18% drop, the stock was still up about 3% in the five-day period covered, though year-to-date, Wolfspeed stock price accumulation of 216% is still considerable.
