Short Report: Bears reduce exposure to Nordstrom amid selloff

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 Ortex.com, 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 down 1.3%, the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.0%, the Russell 2000 index was down 2.3%, the Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) was down 2.1%, and the Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) was down 2.4% in the four-day trading session range.

SHORT INTEREST GAINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest in GameStop (GME) continued to climb this week, rising from about 21% to 22%. Shorts as a percentage of free float troughed at a two-month low of 18.2% in mid-July, though the bears have now raised their exposure on the name in five out of the past six weeks, pressuring shares for much of August before a rebound over the past two weeks. GameStop reported better than expected Q2 results on Wednesday and the stock gapped up by about 7% afterhours, but those gains were mostly erased by Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s chairman Ryan Cohen was under investigation by the SEC related to his trades in Bed Bath Beyond. GameStop was up 1.8% for the week through Thursday, but fell over 6% on Friday in the wake of that report.
• Estimated short interest in BioXcel (BTAI) rose from 35.2% to 36.2% while days to cover on the name rose from 2.2 to 2.3. The stock has been fairly dormant both in price and trading volume after the sharp decline on August 15th when the company announced a strategic re-prioritization and laid off staff as part of its Q2 results. This week however, BioXcel shares made new multi-year lows, falling another 10% in the four-day period through Thursday, even though bears squared those positions heading into the weekend with a 9% gain on Friday.
• Ortex-reported short interest in Dish (DISH) tracked in the 22% level for over seven seeks, as the stock rose into its August 8th earnings that was accompanied by the announcement of a merger with Echostar and then fell over 30% in the following weeks. Shares were off their lows this week, and shorts as a percentage of free float on Dish ticked up to 23% – a two month high. In the four-day period covered through Thursday, Dish was flat, though the stock rose about 5% on Friday.

SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS

• Estimated short interest in Nordstrom (JWN) reached its highest level in two months last Tuesday at 20.2% as shares briefly found their footing from a post-earnings sell-off on August 25th, though with the stock back around 2023 lows, bears have also reduced exposure. Shorts as a percentage of free float on Nordsrom slid from 18.2% to 16.8% this week while days to cover on the name was down about 50bps to 4.0 – a near 7-month low. Shares were down 9.6% in the four-day period covered and have now fallen 38% from late-July highs.