The Top Ten Stocks For Short Sellers (MSFT)(INTC)(SIRI)(F)(AIG)(C)

Short selling is among the most controversial investment practices and has been blamed for sharp sell-offs in the stocks of a number of large companies, especially financial firms. Governments in both the US and other developed countries are considering banning or seriously restricting the practice of short selling. When financial stocks were dropping rapidly late last year, taking short positions in some banks and brokerage stocks was actually forbidden.

There are a limited number of stocks which consistently have short interests above 50 million shares. They are the shares in companies that short sellers move in and out of the most often.

The reasons that theses stocks are so heavily shorted is a combination of their trading volume, their numbers of shares outstanding, and their susceptibility to big price swings caused by news and rumors.

The ten favorite stocks for short sellers are a combination of financial, tech, conglomerate, auto, and big pharma companies–a sign that when Wall St. bets against companies it has no favorite sectors.

The top ten stocks for short sellers:

1. General Electric (GE) used to be a fairly stable company with a fairly stable stock price. Problems with earnings, missed forecasts, and speculation about the health of its financial services division have made GE’s stock volatile and sensitive to rumors. As of April 15, the short interest in GE dropped 6% compared to the measurement two weeks before to a total of 197 million shares. Over that period, GE traded an average of 136 million shares a day, so the short interest is tiny compared with the hvolume. For short sellers, that is a big plus. High trading volume lets them get in and out of GE shares with ease. And, GE’s stock is volatile for a mega-cap company. Since the beginning of the year, the share of the conglomerate have been as high as $17 and as low as $5.87. For a firm with a market value of $128 billion, trading in that big a range is extraordinary.

2. Citigroup (C) is the most shorted stock in America. As of April 15, the bank had a short interest of 1.237 billion shares. Its trading volume average of the prior two weeks was 532 million shares a day. Citi has an extraordinary 24% of its float sold short, a sign that a huge number of investors are willing to gamble against the share price. Citi’s stock is subject to wild swings, in part because the short sellers in the company’s shares have been “squeezed” more than once this year–forced to cover when the banks had good news. That covering magnified the rebound in Citi’s share price. Citi is a “rumor a day” stock. Recently, the market has speculated about the fate of the bank’s CEO, Vikram Pandit, whether the firm will have to raise money because of government stress tests, and whether the bank can maintain the earnings it posted for the first quarter. So far this year, the stock has traded in a range of $7.46 to $.97, a short seller’s dream.

3. AIG (AIG) is another stock which has traded in the pennies since the beginning of 2009, even though it was the premier insurance company in the world just four years ago. Shares short in AIG fell 3% during the most recent period to 278 million, against an average daily volume of 125 million shares. Eleven percent of the financial firm’s float is now sold short. AIG’s stock can more up or down 15% on any given day based on information about whether the government will have to add to its $13o billion commitment to the firm and news about its desperate attempts to auction off its divisions to get money back to taxpayers. The stock is remarkably volatile. It has been as low as $.33 and as high as $1.74 since the beginning of the year.

4. Ford (F) had 113 million share sold short as of April, an extraordinary drop of 53% since two weeks before that. The stock was up 47% to $4.04 over that period which wiped out a number of short positions. Since then, the shares have moved even higher on earnings and analyst upgrades and change hands at more than $5. Ford trades  a tremendous 121 million shares a day. Any news about the potential bankruptcy of GM (GM) or Chrysler moves Ford’s stock due to concerns, among others, that a liquidation of either of those firms could bring down parts suppliers that serve the entire industry. The monthly release of domestic unit sales also pushes the stock up and down.

5. Pfizer (PFE) may be the best proxy for the fortunes of large US pharmaceutical companies. It has a market cap of more than $88 billion and annual revenue of almost $50 billion, making it the largest drug company in the world. It is in the midst of buying rival Wyeth for $68 billion and is cutting staff and costs rapidly as some of its most profitable drugs lose their patent protections, a problem across the entire industry. Pfizer has a short interest of almost 174 million shares. and average daily trading volume of 54 million shares. Pfizer traded at over $17 at the beginning of the year, fell to $11.62 at the beginning of March and has recovered to $13.17 since then.

6. Gannett (GCI) is the largest newspaper company in the US which makes it the subject of constant speculation and financial media interest. Its short interest as of April 15 was 63.8 million shares, down 7% from two weeks earlier. The company has a very high 28% of its float sold short, which is equivalent to six trading days of volume based on the current daily average. As concerns about the fate of the newspaper industry mounted, Gannett’s shares plunged from over $9 in mid-January to $1.85 in mid-March. Two weeks ago, Ariel Investments announced that it had increased its investment in Gannett from 4.8% of the company to 12.5%. That puzzled Wall St because of the bleak future the industry faces. The news about Ariel caused the stock to rally from $2.69 to $4.06 in four days, which probably pushed a number of short sellers out. Weak earnings knocked the stock back down to $3.09 giving those gambling against the firm some renewed hope.

7. Sirius XM (SIRI) has been a favorite of short sellers for years. Once considered among the most promising growth stocks in America, its debt problems nearly forced it into Chapter 11. Liberty Media put $530 million into the satellite radio company just days before it would probably have gone bankrupt and got 40% of Sirius and along with debt for the capital. The company’s stock began the trading year at $.12 and fell to $.05 in early February on concerns that it might fold. Since then, the shares are up over 8x to $.43. There were almost 167 million shares sold short in Sirius as of April 15, down 8% from two weeks earlier, but it would take six days of trading at average volume to cover that short interest so there is still a lot of money wagering that the stock will drop.

8. Level 3 (LVLT), the broadband infrastructure company, has also been at the top of short selling lists for years. It has a float of close to one billion shares which makes taking a short position in the stock fairly easy. Average trading volume per day is 10 million shares. As of April 15, there were 122.9 million shares sold short, down 13% in two weeks. Level 3 has two factors that short sellers love. It has awful financial prospects and a volatile share price. At the end of the last quarter, Level 3 had $6.3 billion in debt and almost no operating income. The company is constantly trying to restructure its balance sheet, is facing a number of shareholder class action suits, and its shares swing up and down rapidly. In early January, Level 3 traded at $1.49. It dropped to $.57 in mid-March and has nearly doubled since then.

9. Microsoft (MSFT), the most shorted large tech company traded on any U.S. exchange, is a nearly ideal way to bet against software. It has dominant global market share in PC, server, and enterprise products used by large companies and governments. Microsoft is no longer considered a growth stock by Wall St., but it remains one of the most impressive corporate cash flow machines in the world. Microsoft’s ongoing battle with Google (GOOG) over search and desktop software keeps it in the headlines regularly, and its quest to get control of Yahoo!’s (YHOO) search engine operation has gone on for a year. Microsoft had a short interest of 88.4 million shares as of April 15 down 10%. The company has almost 9 billion shares outstanding and trades 68.7 billion shares a day. Microsoft (MSFT) traded at almost $21 in early January but fell to $14.87 in early March, a remarkable drop for a company with a market cap of $185 billion.

10. Intel (INTC) is the stock to short for the hardware industry just the way Microsoft is for investors betting against software. The shares in largest maker of chips in the world rises and falls on sales information about PCs and servers. Its expansion into less expensive and less powerful chips for netbooks and other portable devices may drive significant revenue growth once the economy begins to recover. Shares sold short in Intel as of April 15 were over 80 million, down 15%. Intel’s positive remarks about sales in the PC market in its most recent earnings release  may have driven some short sellers out of their positions. Intel shares are up 30% from a one-year bottom in late February. Intel trades heavily with an average volume of 72.7 million shares a day.

Douglas A. McIntyre