Short sellers continue to hold huge positions not only in troubled companies like J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), but also in blue chips like AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).
As of April 30, the most recent settlement date, the six most shorted stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange all had short positions of more than 90 million shares. For J.C. Penney, that was about 30% of the float, while at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), it was almost 19%.
The number of AT&T shares short decreased by more than 11 million in the period to about 185.9 million. That was the lowest sort interest level since the end of February, and it represents 3.6% of the float. It would take about six days to cover all short positions. AT&T has recently expressed an interest in acquiring DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV).
AMD had a 5% decline in short interest to 114.64 million shares by the end of the month, about 18.6% of the company’s float. Still, that was the lowest number of shares short so far this year. The days to cover fell to about three. AMD seemed set to benefit from a price war between the new gaming consoles, and the stock still could double this year.
After three straight periods of shrinking short interest in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), it grew 4.6% in late April to more than 107.62 million shares. But that still was just 1.0% of the bank’s float, and it would take about one day to cover all short positions. In this period, Bank of America canceled its previous announced dividend hike and share buybacks.
Brazilian iron ore producer Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) saw a 3.7% rise in short interest to more than 96.36 million shares, taking back some of the nearly 10% decline in the previous period. The April 30 number was 3% of the total float. The days to cover was around five in the period.
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J.C. Penney’s short interest slipped from 93.32 million shares to the 90.89 million by the end of April. That was the lowest number of shares short so far this year, but it was still 30.1% of the float. The days to cover remained around six. Though its turnaround still hasn’t managed to gain traction, J.C. Penney shares rallied late in the period.
The number of Cemex SAB de C.V. (NYSE: CX) shares short increased by around 10.0 million from the previous period to almost 90.68 million at month’s end. That was a gain of about 12.5%, the most among these top five stocks. At the current average daily volume, it would take about seven days to cover all short positions.
Rounding out the top ten are Brazilian telecom Oi S.A.(NYSE: OIBR), Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F). Oi and Sprint saw double-digit percentage increases, while short interest in Alcoa shrank. Note that General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) fell out of the top ten during the period.
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