The short interest in the actively traded cult stocks and low-priced shares seems to always contain some big surprises. That is again the case as of the August 31 settlement date.

We took a look at the following active cult stocks and low-priced short interest reports: Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA).

We have compiled the short interest comparisons of the August 31 settlement date to the prior settlement date of August 15 for the review. If applicable, we have also included some color on the days to cover as well as how the short interest compares to prior peaks or troughs.

Alcatel Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) saw a small uptick to 14.98 million shares short as of August 31 from 14.56 million on August 15. This is still close to the lowest short interest since February, as it seems that the short sellers think that the ADR has fallen about as far as it is likely to fall.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) again was hardly changed at 216.4 million shares short on the August 31 settlement date, versus 220.29 million shares short in mid-August. This key bank’s short interest has been steady for more than two months now.

Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) saw a big drop in the short interest, down to 11.76 million shares at the end of August versus 14.07 million shares short in mid-August. This is the lowest reading going back to last November.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) saw a small decline to 42.31 million shares short at the end of August, versus 43.37 million shares short in mid-August. What is important to realize though is that the days-to-cover is now more than 12, and that is the highest reading in the past year.

Diamond Foods Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) saw yet one more small decline in the short interest, down to 8.58 million shares short as of the August 31 settlement date, versus 8.66 million shares short in mid-August. This is the lowest short interest reading since last September, but we would caution that due to lower trading volume this is still an amazing 23.6 days to cover.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) actually saw a small decline in the short selling here, after having seen a large increase and record in the prior short interest report. The short interest at the end of August was 85.35 million shares short, just under the record of 87.98 million shares short in mid-August.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw a slight decline in the bets against solar as the end of August short interest was 29.3 million shares versus 31.86 million shares short in mid-August. On a nominal basis, this was still the second-largest short interest yet again in over a year.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw yet one more increase in the short interest as the bet against the K-Cups grows. Obviously, that short interest has helped to accelerate the recent gains as short sellers had to cover in a panic. The August 31 settlement date had 41.505 million shares short, versus 40.03 million shares short as of the August 15 settlement date. This was again the highest short interest and the days to cover was also the highest it has been at 9.34.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) saw a somewhat surprising second drop in the short interest down to 42.145 million shares short at the end of August. This compares to 46.36 million shares in the mid-August short interest and well under the short interest peak at the end of July when the reading was 55.2 million shares short.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) saw a large percentage gain in the short interest, although the nominal number of shares sounds low. The August 31 short interest was up in the double-digits to 4.877 million shares versus 4.243 million shares in mid-August. This just gets it back closer to the 4.916 million shares short at the end of July. What is interesting is that the days to cover doubled from the mid-August report to 2.2.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) saw what looks like a small gain in the short interest to 15.44 million shares at the end of August versus 14.3 million shares short at the mid-August short interest report. We would point out that the Netflix short interest is now at a nominal high for the entire trailing months. Its days to cover is now at a record 4.79 as well.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) saw another rise, a much larger rise than before, in its short interest. The end of August showed some 246.2 million shares short versus the mid-August reading of 217.9 million shares short. This was actually the highest reading on a nominal basis over the past year against the prior record of 238.5 million shares short in mid-April.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) posted a second small decline in its short interest. The August 31 settlement date’s short interest was 40.9 million shares, versus 42.4 million shares short in mid-August. The peak was almost 45.7 million shares at the end of July. The problem is that the lower trading volume now lists The Shack at 14.8 days to cover, and that is the highest ratio in at least the past year.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) saw a slight uptick in the August 31 settlement date short interest to 87.479 million shares, versus 86.666 million shares short in mid-August. What is much larger is the days to cover due to lower trading volumes, and that is now up at almost 7.3 as the highest days to cover ratio in the past year.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) saw a big gain in the short interest to 283.1 million shares short as of August 31 versus 259.7 million shares short in mid-August. This is still under the peak of 329.8 million shares short at the end of July.

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) saw small decline in the short interest after having seen a massive drop in the short selling in mid-August. The short interest was 18.9 million shares as of the August 31 settlement date. That compares to 19.3 million shares short in mid-August and compares to 31.6 million shares short at the end of July. Zynga’s peak in the short interest was 56.6 million shares short as of mid-May.

JON C. OGG

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