Sprint Joins the 5 Most Shorted NYSE Stocks

Investing

Published: September 11, 2014 7:35 am

Surges in short interest between the August 15 and August 29 settlement dates pushed Sprint into the top five and Kinder Morgan into the top 10 most shorted stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. AMD saw the most significant drop in the number of shares short during the period, but it, like all the top five, had more than 100,000 shares short at the end of the period.

The number of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) shares short increased about 3.2% in the final two weeks of the month to about 212.08 million. That was the highest level of short interest in the past year, and it represents 4.1% of the float. It would take more than 14 days to cover all short positions. AT&T may have had trouble selling Amazon Fire phones during the period. Shares rose only fractionally in the two-week period to August 29, and they closed at $34.70 Wednesday, in the same neighborhood as at the beginning of the year. The 52-week range is $31.74 to $37.48.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) saw a 7% drop in short interest to more than 130.05 million shares by the end of the month. That totaled 20.9% of the company’s float, and it was down about 15% from the peak number of shares short in July. The days to cover rose to about nine. AMD introduced new solid state drives and PC graphics cards during those two weeks, and he stock’s price rose about 1% in that time, but it has fallen since. The stock closed at $4.08 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $3.04 to $4.80.

Brazilian iron ore producer Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) saw its short interest during the period rise from nearly 122.99 million to 128.89 million shares. That more than reclaimed the decline in shares short in the previous period. It would take about seven days to cover all short positions. Shares closed at $12.38, in a 52-week range of $12.22 to $17.14. They retreated more than 4% in the two-week short-interest period.

After rising for three periods in a row, short interest in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) came to around 112.01 million shares at month’s end. That was 1.1% of the bank’s float, and it would take about a day and a half to cover all short positions. The bank reached a big settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in the period. The stock’s price was up more than 5% during the two-week period, but only rose a little more since. Shares closed at $16.36 and have traded in a range of $13.60 to $18.03 in the past year.

Sprint Corp.’s (NYSE: S) short interest surged from around 100.41 million shares to more than 110.91 million in the latter weeks of the month. That was 14.2% of the float, and it is the largest number of shares short in at least a year. The days to cover is almost five. Sprint offered a new data plan to keep up with rivals in the period. Short sellers watched the share price droop a bit in the two-week period. Shares closed at $6.15 Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $5.36 to $11.47, and down almost 41% year-to-date.

Rounding out the top 10 are Cemex SAB de C.V. (NYSE: CX), AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV), J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) and Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI). A more than 52% upswing in the restructuring midstream energy company’s shares short put Kinder Morgan in the top 10.