Short sellers shied away from three of the top five most shorted stocks on the Nasdaq between the August 15 and August 29 settlement dates. The biggest drop was in Sirius XM, but it remained the most shorted on the index. All five had short interest of more than 96 million shares at the end of the period.
The number of Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short fell by about 16.5 million to around 274.45 million, which was 11.4% of the float. Short interest has been shrinking since the end of June, but it would take more than eight days to cover all short positions. Sirius recently boosted its guidance for net subscriber additions. The stock’s price was up more than 2% in the two-week period but has pulled back somewhat since. Shares closed at $3.62 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $2.98 to $4.18.
In the period when it settled on a new labor contract, the short interest in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) rose almost 2% from the previous period to around 151.13 million shares, or 15.2% of the telecom’s float. That took back some of the short interest retreat in the previous period. It would take more than 22 days to cover all short positions. Shares gained more than 4% in the two-weeks to August 29 and now are up more than 44% year-to-date. Shares closed at $6.35, in a 52-week range of $4.09 to $7.24.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) saw a marginal drop in short interest to 124.76 million shares. That totaled 2.5% of the company’s float, and it was the smallest number of shares short in at least a year. The days to cover rose to five. Intel is a recent UBS semiconductor pick, and short sellers watched the share price rise more than 2% in the two-week period. Shares ended Wednesday at $35.02, in a 52-week range of $22.48 to $35.56, and up more than 35% year-to-date.
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Micron Technology Inc.’s (NASDAQ: MU) short interest, at around 101.26 million shares as of the end of August, was up less than 4% from the previous period. That is 9.5% of the company’s float. The days to cover rose to almost seven. The stock is one not dependent on PC sales growth. Shares closed Wednesday at $32.09, in a 52-week range of $15.67 to $34.85, and posted a share price increase of more than 3% for the two-week short-interest period.
The number of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares short increased by 1.0% ahead of its iPhone 6 launch announcement. The more than 96.04 million shares short represents 1.6% of the float. Short interest had fallen in the previous four periods. It would take about two days to cover all short positions. Apple has become larger than GE and Walmart combined. Shares rose more than 4% during the two weeks, and they closed at $101.00 Wednesday. The split-adjusted 52-week range is $63.89 to $103.74.
Rounding out the top 10 were Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Among these five, only Microsoft saw a decline in short interest.
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