Short Sellers' Mass Exit In High-Priced Leaders (AMZN, AAPL, BIDU, BRK-B, FFIV, GS, GOOG, IBM, ISRG, MA, NFLX, POT, PCLN, CRM, VMW, WYNN)

The short sellers ran for cover in the actively traded high priced market leaders at the end of November.  With only a few exceptions of our “high-priced leaders,” almost all of these stocks saw a large decrease in the number of shares short at the November 30, 2010 settlement date versus the November 15 settlement date.  The prior report was mixed, but this was a definite retreat in short selling in these names.  Our list includes Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B), F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT), Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN).

We have broken these names out individually in an alphabetic list, showing the decrease (or the small gains) and a short interest share count as of November 30 settlement date versus the November 15 settlement date.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) saw almost 15% decrease in its short interest as shares have risen.  The short interest fell to 9.464 million shares from 11.11 million in mind-November.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a drop of about 3.2% in the short interest to 8.767 million shares from 9.057 million shares.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) saw a drop of 4.5% in the short interest to 8.162 million shares from 8.545 million shares in mid-November.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) even saw a drop of 8.2% to 18.567 million shares versus 20.229 million shares short in mid-November.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) saw a drop of only 1.1% to 4.801 million shares versus 4.854 million in mid-November.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) saw a big drop of 12% down to 6.072 million shares from 6.897 million shares in mid-November.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was one of the largest drops as the short interest fell a sharp 18.4% to 3.78 million shares from 4.63 million shares in the mid-November period.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) saw a slight drop in the short interest of 0.7% to 18.035 million shares versus 18.159 million shares in mid-November.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) was a slight gain in short selling with a 4.5% increase to 2.638 million shares versus 2.525 million shares short in mid-November.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) saw a sharp drop of 21.3% in the short interest as the short interest fell to 1.815 million shares from 2.307 million shares in mid-November.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is one where short sellers increased their bets against the company.  There was a 6.2% gain to 11.129 million shares in the short interest versus 10.479 million shares short in mid-November.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) saw a large drop of 14.2% to 5.642 million shares versus 6.577 million shares short in mid-November.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) saw a drop of 3.2% in its short interest to 4.439 million shares versus 3.551 million shares short in mid-November.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) is one that saw a rise in the short interest of 6.6%.  The November 30 figure had 11.44 million shares in the short interest versus 10.734 million in mid-November.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) saw a slight drop of 1.3% to 6.021 million shares short versus 6.1 million shares short in mid-November.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw a drop of 7.5% in the short interest down to 5.767 million shares versus 6.233 million shares short in mid-November.

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JON C. OGG