As the market volatility continued in late January, what were the short sellers up to? Well, among the most heavily shorted stocks traded on the Nasdaq, they mostly retreated between the January 15 and January 29 settlement dates.
Bucking the trend were Frontier Communications and MannKind, with little change in the number of shares short by the end of the month, and Groupon, with a modest rise in short interest.
Note that the four most shorted Nasdaq stocks still had more than 120,000 shares short by the end of the period.
After rising more than 4% in the previous period, the short interest in Frontier Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: FTR) was essentially flat, coming in at about 173.58 million shares by the end of the month. That was 15.0% of the telecom’s float. The days to cover slipped to less than 10 as the average daily volume increased again. Frontier’s customer base will double after acquiring assets from Verizon. Shares ended the short interest period up almost 7%, while the Nasdaq rose less than 3% in that time. The share price still is down more than 7% year to date. The stock closed most recently at $4.32, within a 52-week trading range of $3.81 to $8.46.
The nearly 142.50 million Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short at the end of January was about 2% lower than on the previous settlement date. That was the third period of shrinking short interest, and it was 7.0% of the company’s float. At the current average daily volume, it would take more than four days to cover all short positions. Sirius said it added more subscribers in 2015 than it had forecast. The share price ended the two-week period fractionally higher, despite being down more than 5% at one point. The stock ended Tuesday at $3.35 a share, in a 52-week range of $3.29 to $4.20.
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By the end of the month, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had around 129.60 million shares short, which was down from 134.35 million two weeks earlier. The most recent reading totaled 20.1% of the company’s float. The days to cover rose to about eight as the average daily volume declined for the first time since November. Recent earnings were in line with estimates, but the outlook was shaky. Short sellers watched the share price rise more than 8% in the two-week period, though it has retreated about 11% since. The shares closed most recently at $1.90, within a 52-week range of $1.61 to $3.23.
MannKind Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MNKD) short interest, at more than 124.41 million shares as of January 29, was up fractionally from the prior settlement date to the greatest number of shares short since last September. The most recent reading was 45.3% of the total float, and the days to cover jumped from less than nine to more than 17. MannKind still struggles with the termination of its insulin inhaler project with Sanofi-Aventis. The stock ended the two weeks more than 8% higher, despite being up about 13% at one point. Shares are now down more than 33% year to date to $0.97. They hit a multiyear low of $0.64 earlier in the month. The 52-week high of $7.88 was seen almost a year ago.
A more than 3% pullback in BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) short interest brought it to more than 80.02 million, taking back some of a more than 9% gain in the first weeks of January. The month-end reading was 15.2% of the total float, and it would take almost 11 days to cover all short positions, up from less than seven in the previous period. BlackBerry boosted its share buyback plan, and short sellers watched the stock pull back more than 3% but end the two weeks up almost 2%. Shares closed Tuesday at $6.72, down more than 27% since the beginning of the year. The 52-week trading range is $5.96 to $11.45.
The number of Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) shares short increased by almost 2.3 million between the settlement dates to more than 78.69 million. That was the greatest short interest since last August, as well as 18.2% of the total float. It would take more than nine days to cover all short positions. We recently wondered who might acquire Groupon. The stock has lost almost a third of its value in so far this year. In the settlement period, short sellers watched shares drop more than 15% but recover by month’s end. Shares closed most recently at $2.22, and they have traded between $2.15 and $8.37 in the past year.
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Rounding out the top 10 were Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU). Like the others, the trend was downward, especially in Micron Technology. The number of its shares fell almost 13% to the lowest level in at least a year. Note that short interest in Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) jumped more than 20%, though that wasn’t enough to lift it into the top 10.
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