Stocks With the Largest Short Interest

Investing

Published: August 27, 2014 6:34 am

Several companies had more than 100 million shares sold short for the two-week period that ended on August 15.

Among these was perennial leader Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), with a short interest of 291 million, down 6 million from the two weeks before. The company is small compared to most others with large short interest. Its market capitalization was $20 billion on the day of the measurement. Sirius shares sold short are 14% of its entire float, a number that is relatively high.

Next on the list is AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), with a short interest of 205 million, which is higher by almost 9 million. The figure is fairly small compared to AT&T’s float, at only 4%.

A small telecom follows AT&T on the list — Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR). Its short interest, at 149 million shares, is 15% of its float. However, the shares sold short dropped 28 million compared to the two weeks prior.

Next on the list of companies ranked by short interest is Intel’s tiny competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), which has struggled to stay in business. Its short interest was 140 million, down 13 million, but still 23% of its float.

Ironically, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is the next on the list of companies with most shares sold short, at 125 million, which is down 10 million. As a percentage of its float, short interest is only a little over 3%, which is a large contrast to AMD’s number.

Following Intel is another tech company, Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), with a short interest of 105 million shares. That is down 20 million during the period and 10% of the company’s float.

Next on the list is troubled Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), with a short interest of 103 million, up just under 2 million. The bank has been the subject of a number of government investigations and recently agreed to pay the federal government a fine of $16.7 billion. However, as a percentage of float, the short interest is only 1%.

The last public corporation on the list of companies with short interest of over 100 million is battered telecom Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S), which has been bleeding customers and recently replaced its CEO. Sprint’s controlling shareholder is Japanese company Softbank. Sprint’s shares sold short reached 100 million, up 16 million, or 19% of its float.

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