Short sellers continue to hold huge positions in troubled companies, including J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), while adding to their positions in some of the largest tech firms, such as Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). The 10 most shorted stocks traded on U.S. exchanges all had short positions of more than 100 million shares.

The company in which traders have the largest short position is Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI). Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LMCA) announced in January that it would buy the shares in the satellite radio company that it does not already own. It abandoned that plan recently. The short position in Sirius was 224 million for the period that ended March 14, an increase of 38 million shares from February 28.

Shares sold short in Intel also increased. The short position rose by 10 million shares to 223 million. Intel has been under pressure as PC sales have dropped sharply due to consumer adoption of smartphones. Intel has tried to enter the smartphone chips market, but its efforts have not been even modestly successful.

The short position in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) dropped two million shares to 207 million. The small telecom provider has a little more than 2.8 million customers, which means it is dwarfed by companies like AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T).

The short position in AT&T is also very large at 199 million, up 22 million in the period. Ongoing concerns about competition with cable and satellite television and pricing pressure from other wireless subscribers have fueled the perception that this highly profitable line of business will lose margins.

The short position in Micron Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) rose 10 million to 125 million shares. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital has been trying to uncover who leaked its position in the company. In the meantime, like Intel, Micron has to battle the perception it is part of the “old tech” world being displaced by new products.

Shares sold short in J.C. Penney dropped by 10 million but remain at a huge 119 million. Despite very modest improvement in its same-store sales, much of Wall Street still believes that its stores are too old, its balance sheet too weak and its competitors too powerful for the retailer to ever fully recover from two years of rapidly falling sales.

The largest short position among U.S. banks is in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), which fell by 25 million shares to 119 million. The big financial services company has been plagued by suits over its mortgage practices and a horrible loan portfolio. It appears that the bank is well along the path of repairing those problems.

The short interest in battered chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) was flat at 119 million. Like Intel, it is trapped in the PC chip business and has made little headway into portable devices. Worse, it controls less than a quarter of its market, with Intel having the balance.

The short position in Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) rose 30 million to 113 million. The share price of the Brazilian iron ore producer is near a 52-week low. Additionally, it is in the fertilizer and hydroelectric power generation businesses. The price of iron ore is near recent lows, which could pressure margins.

The short position in BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY), the nearly defunct supplier of smartphones, reached 105 million. Wall Street continues to question whether BlackBerry can survive as a standalone company.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.