Investing

Big Short Interest Changes in Cult & Controversial Stocks (ALU, STD, BAC, BKS, DNDN, DMND, FSLR, GMCR, GRPN, HGSI, LNKD, NFLX, RSH, RIMM, SIRI)

The short interest data is out from the June 29 settlement date.  It seems that there were some big changes with some key cult stocks and actively traded stocks seeing big changes over the June 15 settlement date. 

24/7 Wall St. screened out selective short interest data with the latest changes from the settlement date of June 29, 2012 versus June 15, 2012 in shares of the following: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU); Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH); Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM); and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI).

Read Also: Technology Earnings Set For Disappointment

We have added in some selective color added if applicable:
 
Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw a drop of almost 9% in its short interest to 21.34 million shares in the short interest after a recent peak of more than 23 million shares short.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) saw a huge drop of 26.4% in its short interest to 6.599 million shares; this is way down from the peak.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) saw a rather large drop of 9.3% to 231 million shares at the end of June.  This is still very elevated versus the 142.3 million shares short at the end of April.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) saw a double-digit drop of 11.3% to 14.2 million shares in the short interest as of the end of June.  This short interest was 19.768 million shares at the end of April.
 
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) saw a 10% gain in its short interest by the end of June to 37.79 million shares short.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) saw another small drop of 5.9% to 9.37 million shares short as of the end of June.  That is actually the smallest short interest going all the way back to last December.  Maybe this has played out now as the easy short-sale money has been made. 

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is still very new but it saw a huge gap up in short selling despite that it has recovered handily from the bottom.  At the end of June the short interest was up 32.9% to 60.15 million shares in the short interest.  The short interest history was 45.2 million shares at June 15 settlement date versus 34 million shares short at the end of May.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw another upwardly moving short interest with a 10.2% gain in shares short to 27.13 million shares.  That appears to be the highest short interest on a nominal share count over what we have seen in months and months.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw a big jump in the short interest after some prior drops.  The gain was by 20.3% in the short interest to 27.97 million shares.  Maybe short sellers think the buyout rumors are as dead as they always were.

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) saw yet another double-digit gain by 12.5% to 27.4 million shares.  This appears to be yet one more record high nominally in the short interest.
 
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) saw a 5% drop at the end of June in its short interest to 17.29 million shares, perhaps as investors think this could be acquired by another firm other than GSK.

LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) saw a decent drop of about 8% to 5.15 million shares short at the end of June.
 
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw a double-digit drop in short selling with its short interest down 10.1% at the end of June to 12.7 million shares short.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) saw a surprising drop in the short interest.  Maybe someone is worried that the company can be acquired or manage to save itself.  The short interest at the end of June was down 7.4% to 156.98 million shares.

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) saw just a double-digit gain in the short interest at the end of June over the middle of June.  The gain in shares short was over 42.5 million shares from 38 million shares.  Is this remaining a consumer electronics retail deathwatch?
 
Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) remains on deathwatch, even for the short sellers.  The gain of shares short was by more than 16% to 85.4 million shares as the short interest is higher than it has been in a year or more.
 
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw a very small drop in the short interest at the end of June by only 2.8% to 289.95 million shares short. 


JON C. OGG

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