Short Sellers Flee Telecom And Financial Stocks (VZ, T, MOT, S, MSFT)

Bank stocks will rebound and telecom shares will rise. That is, at least, the prevailing opinion among short sellers as of October 15.

Telecom and telecom equipment shares will benefit from an exit of short sellers as much as those in any other sector. Shares sold short in AT&T (NYSE: T) fell 20% to 45.9 million. The short interest in Verizon (NYSE: VZ) dropped 15% to 46.3 million. Both companies had erosion in the land line businesses last quarter, but their cellular businesses grew. That may be reflected in a 15% drop in the short interest in Motorola (NYSE: MOT)–down 41 million shares

Shares sold short in telecom weakling Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) were down 8% to 80.9 million. The short interest in telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) dropped 19% to 18.9 million.

Short sellers stampeded away from financial shares. The short interest in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) dropped 16% to 128.2 million despite the firm’s problems with mortgage paperwork. Shares short in Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) dropped 17% to 43.9 million. The short interest in Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) fell 21% to 12.5 million.

Troubled companies such as  Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) were favorites of short sellers who increased their positions in both companies.

Among tech shares, short sellers adopted a neutral position. Shares short in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) were flat at 77.2 million. Shares short in Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) rose 8% to 32.2 million. The short interest in Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) was up less than 3% to 49.6 million. The short interest in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was down 9% to 57.8 million.

Data from NYSE and NASDAQ

Douglas A. McIntyre