Among the most shorted stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange, General Electric and Sprint drew the most attention from short sellers between the September 30 and October 15 settlement dates. They both saw double-digit percentage upswings in the number of shares short during the period.

Otherwise, short interest changes were fairly moderate in early October, as autumn settled in and the markets began to recover from their late summer swoon.

Note that the six most shorted NYSE stocks all had more than 125,000 shares short at the end of the most recent settlement period.

After rising since the end of May, short interest in Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) took a breather, pulling back less than 2% to more than 222.34 million shares by mid-month. That was 33.9% of the company’s float, and the days to cover slipped to about 11. The company appointed new board members during the short interest period. Short sellers watched the stock climb about 29% but then take back much of that gain between the settlement dates. Since then shares have pulled back even further. They closed at $7.13 on Monday. In the past year, shares have traded between $6.01 and $24.43 apiece.

After a more than 15% plunge in the number of Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) shares short in the previous two-week period, they dwindled another 3.5% to more than 184.37 million. That was the lowest level of short interest since last January. At the most recent average daily volume, it would take around nine days to cover all short positions. At least one analyst sees the Brazilian miner as a contrarian play. And Vale shares ended the short-interest period more than 17% higher, despite being up almost 30% at one point. The S&P 500 grew around 5% during that time. The stock closed most recently at $4.60, in a 52-week trading range of $4.03 to $10.67.

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Sprint Corp.’s (NYSE: S) short interest jumped around 11% in the first weeks of the month, on top of a more than 19% gain in the previous period. The most recent reading of almost 177.34 million was 28.5% of the float and the greatest number of shares short in at least a year. It would take about eight days to cover all short positions. Softbank has continued to increase its stake in Sprint, and the share price ended the two-week period more than 7% higher, though it has surged more than 12% since. Shares closed most recently at $4.78, in a 52-week trading range of $3.10 to $6.25.
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), better known as Petrobras, saw the number of its shares short shrink by less than 2 million in the two weeks to more than 150.85 million. That was still the second highest level of short interest in the past year. The days to cover remained about four, though the average daily volume has inched up for four straight periods. Petrobras announced another spending cut during the most recent period, and shares grew more than 15% in the first two weeks of the month. They closed most recently at $4.92, down more than 33% year to date. The 52-week high of $11.85 occurred almost a year ago, while the $3.72 low was seen just before the latest short interest period.

The around 127.65 million AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) shares short in the middle of October was more than 4% lower than on the prior settlement date. It was 2.1% of the float as well. It would take about six days to cover all short positions. Note that short interest was 300 million shares or more for most of this year. AT&T became more attractive for its dividend as the market grew volatile, and in the wake of its acquisition of DirecTV. AT&T shares were up less than 3% by the end of the most recent settlement period. The stock closed Monday at $33.66, which was fractionally lower than at the beginning of the year. The 52-week trading range is $30.97 to $36.45.

At the end of September, the short interest in General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was greater than 100 million shares for the first time in at least a year. The 127.62 million shares short as of the most recent settlement date was a gain of more than 17% in the period, and it represented about 1.3% of the total float. The days to cover was about two. GE offered up a positive earnings surprise recently. Its share price rose about 11% during the two-week period, compared to about 5% for the S&P 500. Shares closed at $29.55 Monday and have traded in a range of $19.37 to $29.83 in the past year.

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Rounding out the top 10 were Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX). Of these, only Alcoa saw a gain, and both it and Freeport-McMoRan saw double-digit percentage swings in their short interest during the two-week period. SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) managed to slip out of the top 10 in early October.

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