The 6 Most Shorted Nasdaq Stocks: Short Sellers Pile on Apple

Short sellers piled on to Apple again between the November 13 and November 30 settlement dates, lifting its short interest to a year-to-date high. Other than that, changes in the number of shares short in the rest of the most heavily shorted stocks traded on the Nasdaq were relatively mild.

Note that the five most shorted Nasdaq stocks all had more than 100,000 shares short by the end of the month.

After dropping around 9% in the previous period, the short interest in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) recovered about 4% to come in at almost 163.61 million shares by November 30. That was 14.1% of the telecom’s float. The days to cover rose to more than 18 as the average daily volume plunged. Frontier announced service in Durham, N.C. in November, and shares ended the short interest period nearly 5% higher. That compared to a less than 3% gain for the Nasdaq. The share price is down more than 26% year to date. The stock closed Wednesday at $4.92, within a 52-week trading range of $4.19 to $8.46.
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The more than 149.13 million Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short at the end of the month was up more than 1% from mid-November. That was 7.3% of the company’s float, as well as about the same level of short interest as a year ago. At the current average daily volume, it would take more than eight days to cover all short positions. Jim Cramer called Sirius a Hold in late November. The share price ended the two-week period barely higher than where it began, though it has climbed a bit more since. Shares ended Wednesday at $4.01, or 19 cents shy of the recent 52-week high. The 52-week low of $3.27 was almost a year ago.
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By the end of the month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had more than 113.25 million shares short, which was down from 116.87 million on the prior settlement date. The most recent reading totaled 17.6% of the company’s float. The days to cover decreased to around 15 as the average daily volume grew from a year-to-date low. During the short interest period, Barron’s predicted AMD could be profitable in 24 months. The share price finished the two weeks up almost 19%, and it is a bit higher now. The stock closed most recently at $2.35, and the 52-week range is $1.61 to $3.37.

MannKind Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MNKD) short interest, at around 110.78 million shares as of November 30, was down about 8% from the prior settlement date. Note that though it was the fewest shares short since April, it still was approximately 43.3% of the total float. The days to cover surged from less than 9 to about 21 as the average daily volume plunged. Recently MannKind was affected by ETF rebalancing. Short sellers watched the share price tumble nearly 22% in late November. It is now down more than 70% year to date and hit a multiyear low of $1.50 on Wednesday. The 52-week high of $7.88 was from last February.

The number of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares short jumped almost 53% in the period, as holiday shopping got underway. The more than 108.37 million shares short at month’s end represent 1.9% of the float. That was handily the highest level of short interest in the past year. After the average daily volume dropped off in the period, it would take more than three days to cover all short positions, a year-to-date high. Hedge funds have been selling Apple. The share price increased less than 3% during the two weeks, though it was down about 4% at one point. The stock price was $115.62 per share on Wednesday’s close. It has traded in the past year between $92.00 and $134.54.
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More than 88.44 million Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) shares were sold short as of the most recent settlement date. That was more than 7% fewer than at the start of the period, and it totaled 1.9% of the company’s float. It would take more than three days to cover all short positions. Intel hiked its dividend more than expected in November, and it ended the two-week period almost 8% higher. Since then, it pulled back a bit, and shares closed most recently at $34.81. The stock has traded between $24.87 and $37.74 per share in the past year.

Rounding out the top 10 were BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY), Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) and Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL). Among these, Mylan was the mover, with an almost 14% drop in short interest in the latter weeks of the month. Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) also saw a double-digit rise in the number of shares short, but fell short of rising into the top 10.