Short Selling Trends Mixed in High-Priced Market Leaders (AMZN, AAPL, BIDU, FFIV, GS, GOOG, IBM, MA, NFLX, POT, PCLN, CRM, VMW, WYNN)

The short sellers seem to be increasing bets in some sectors while decreasing their bets elsewhere.  We are again seeing a record low in the short interest while others are seeing steady gains.  Our list for the February 15, 2011 settlement date 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 huge jump in its short interest to 9.743 million shares as of the FEB 15 settlement date after what had been a large drop to 6,672,119 shares on the January 31 settlement date versus 8,657,467 shares short as of January 14 settlement. Keep in mind that as of September 30, Amazon’s short interest was over 16 million shares.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw another gain in short selling to 10.916 million shares as of FEB 15 settlement date.  This marks another gain after 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) also rose in short selling with 7.073 million shares as of FEB 15.  The shares short at January 31 were 6.703 million versus 8.889 million shares short as of January 14, so this gain here is only a relative gain.

F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) showed a gain to 5.55 million shares in the short interest as of FEB 15 settlement date versus 4.294 million shares at January 31 and versus 4.665 million shares in the short interest as of January 14.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) saw a small drop to 3.921 million shares as of FEB 15 settlement versus 3.985 million shares as of January 31 and versus 4.53 million shares short at the January 14 settlement date.  That marks six decreases in a row and is the smallest short interest in a year or more.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw another uptick in short selling to3.628 million shares as of FEB 15 settlement date versus 3.478 million shares as of January 31 and versus the January 14 report of 3.282 million shares in the short interest.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) a small jump to 14.227 million shares in its short interest as of FEB 15 settlement versus 14.164 million shares short as of January 31 and versus 12.808 million shares short on January 14.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) saw a slight uptick to 1.62 million shares in its FEB 15 settlement date short interest versus 1.585 million shares in its short interest as of January 31 and versus January 14’s reading of 1.547 million shares short.

Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw a gain to 12.438 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement date versus the January 31 short interest of 11.293 million shares and versus 11.225 million shares as of January 14.  This is the largest reading now since mid-September-2010.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) saw a large decrease to 4.589 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement date versus 7.882 million shares as of January 31 and versus 16.599 million shares in mid-January.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) saw another small gain to 3.66 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement versus 3.581 million shares as of January 31 and versus 3.485 million shares short on January 14.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM) saw a gain in the short interest to 10.005 million shares short as of FEB 15 settlement versus the January 31 short interest of 9.785 million shares and versus 9.875 million shares at January 14.

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) saw a minute drop in short selling to 4.497 million shares short as of FEB 15 versus 4.508 million shares as of January 31 and versus 5.313 million as of January 14.  This is the lowest short interest in a year.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) saw a large drop in the short interest to 2.862 million shares short as of FEB 15 versus 3.639 million shares short as of January 31 and versus 4.38 million shares short as of January 14 settlement date.  This is another year low in the Wynn short interest.

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JON C. OGG