The short sellers have reversed their trend of the mass exodus in short selling.  What is interesting is that some companies are seeing a record low in the short interest while others are seeing gains.  Our list includes Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), 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 the January 31 settlement date versus the January 14 settlement date, plus we have shown other short interest data for historical comparison.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) saw a decrease to 6,672,119 shares on the January 31 settlement date versus 8,657,467 shares short as of January 14 settlement after a brief uptick before.  Keep in mind that as of September 30, Amazon’s short interest was over 16 million shares.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a huge spike in short selling.  The January 31 settlement date saw a massive 10,025,619 shares short versus 6,664,008 shares in the short interest on January 15. This is the highest reading since October.

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) saw a frop after having seen a prior gain; shares short at January 31 were 6.703 million versus 8.889 million shares short as of January 14.  This is he smallest short interest in about a year.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) showed a small decrease in the short interest to 4.294 million shares at January 31 versus 4.665 million shares in the short interest as of January 14.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) saw another rather large drop 3.985 million shares as of January 31 versus 4.53 million shares short at the January 14 settlement date.  That marks five decreases in a row and is the smallest short interest in a year or more.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw a slight uptick in short selling to 3.478 million shares as of January 31 versus the January 14 report of 3.282 million shares in the short interest.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) saw a fairly large jump to 14.164 million shares short as of January 31 versus 12.808 million on January 14.  There had been four consecutive drops and is still down from over 18 million shares at the end of November.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) saw a large gain to 1.585 million shares in its short interest as of January 31; the January 14 reading was 1.547 million shares.  This is still one of the smallest short interest readings for Mastercard in a year.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was largely unchanged even with a small increase.  Its January 31 short interest was 11.293 million shares versus 11.225 million shares as of January 14.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) saw a monster rise in the short interest in January.  As of January 14 settlement date, its short interest grew a whopping 36% to 5.533 million shares versus 4,059,704 shares at December 31.  This is the lowest reading in a year; maybe no one wants to be in front of that share split.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) was a small gain to 3.581 million shares as of January 31 after having been 3.485 million shares on January 14.  There is just no pattern in the short interest here.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) was also not changed very much despite a slight drop.  The January 31 short interest was 9.785 million shares versus 9.875 million shares at January 14.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) saw a decent drop in its short interest to 4.508 million shares as of January 31 versus 5.313 million as of January 14.  This is the lowest short interest in a year.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw yet another drop in its short interest to 3.639 million shares as of January 31 versus 4.38 million shares short as of January 14 settlement date.  Again, another year low when it comes to shares in the short interest at Wynn.

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JON C. OGG

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