Apple Short Interest Surges by Over 14 Million Shares

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 4:55PM EST · Published Dec 10, 9:15AM EST

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Apple Short Interest Surges by Over 14 Million Shares — © courtesy of Apple Inc.

A group of investors has increasingly bet that something is off at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Shares sold short in Apple rose 14.4 million to 59 million in the period that ended November 30, an increase of 37%. Apple was the 10th most shorted Nasdaq stock for the period.

The cycle of mystery and speculation around the company has quickened, as well as coincided with the holiday consumer electronic sales season. Shares have not done much, up 4% in the past month, against a similar Trump rally improvement in the S&P.

The most recent rumors involve a delay in its new ear bud product. The Wall Street Journal says about the ear bud delay:

Three months after trumpeting the AirPods as a breakthrough technology, Apple still hasn’t made them available. The company says it needs time before the wireless airbuds are ready for consumers.

There have been more rumors about iPhone 8 prices, iPhone 6s battery leaks and flaws in the new version of iOS, according to Forbes. However, these rumors are no wilder than usual.

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Most of the speculation about Apple continues to be about its primary revenue source, the iPhone 7. Holiday sales will set the tone about Apple’s prospects next year. Apple says it has to do well in China to do well at all.

Barron’s reports that China appears to be a weak spot:

Another day, another Apple (AAPL) iPhone warning.

Rosenblatt Securities’s Jun Zhang today reiterates a Neutral rating, and a $102 price target, warning that sales of the iPhone in China, he estimates, are “still weaker than retail channels” as discounting of the phone has popped up across the country.

iPhone sales, presumably in dollars, he doesn’t specify — fell by 6% in November, and are probably down “slightly” from November this month, as discounting takes hold outside of tight supplies at Apple’s online store:

Overall iPhone sales in China were down 6% in November and slightly down MoM in November due to some pushes in “single day” sales. In our view, iPhone 7 sales will continue trending down and many retailers in China have already started discounting ($50) the iPhone 7 in November. iPhone 7 Plus supply is catching up in November, and sales have grown MoM in November. iPhone 6/6S sales continue to be weak. The 7 Plus model currently accounts for 60% of iPhone 7 sales in China. We started seeing some retailers discounting this model in November.

Short interest data at the end of this moth may show some of the rumors and speculation have been misguided.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.