With the holiday shopping season looking strong and tax reform coming to pass as last year wound to a close, how were short sellers positioning themselves for the coming year? Judging by the most shorted stocks traded on the Nasdaq between the December 15 and December 29 settlement dates, they were mostly ready to lighten up on those stocks.

Bucking that trend, however, was Comcast and one or two others that the short sellers stuck with. Leading the trend was tech giant Intel, while Cisco and Apple also saw notable shrinkage of the numbers of their shares short.

Note that still just three Nasdaq stocks had more than 100 million shares short as of the most recent settlement date.

Sirius XM

The more than 223.83 million Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares short after the final two weeks of December represented a pullback of around 5 million from the previous settlement date. The latest reading totaled 15.7% of the available float. Note though that the average daily volume dropped sharply in the period, so the days to cover increased from more than nine to over 12.

Sirius XM has a long road ahead before it gets back on track. The stock ended the short interest period fractionally lower than where it began it, despite being up more than 2% at one point. The Nasdaq was essentially flat between the settlement dates. Sirius shares closed most recently at $5.55 apiece. That is less than the 52-week high of $5.89 seen near the end of July. The 52-week low of $4.52 was reached almost a year ago.

AMD

By the end of December, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had more than 167.46 million shares short. That was down around 5% from the total on the previous settlement date, or the lowest level of short interest since October. The latest reading represented 23.7% of the company’s float. The average daily volume dropped to a 52-week low during the two-week period, so the number of days it would take to cover all short positions ticked up from four to five.

Analysts expect stellar growth from AMD in 2018. Its December 29 share price was almost 4% lower than on the previous settlement date, though the shares were up more than 4% earlier in the period. The stock closed trading on Wednesday at $11.96 a share, which is more than 13% lower than six months ago. Shares have changed hands at between $9.42 and $15.65 apiece in the past year.

Intel

More than 116.40 million Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) shares were sold short as of the most recent settlement date. The figure shrank by more than 23% from the greatest level of short interest in at least the past year. The most recent figure represented 2.5% of the company’s float. As of the end of last month, it still would take about four days for investors to cover all short positions.

Intel was a top pick for 2018 at Merrill Lynch. The stock ended the short interest period about 2% higher, though it was up more than 5% at one point during those two weeks. Intel closed most recently at $42.50 a share, which is down from a recent 52-week high of $47.64. The 52-week low is $33.23. The share price now is more than 26% higher than six months ago.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals

Short interest at Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SGYP) totaled over 75.53 million shares on the final trading day of the year, after a gain of less than 900,000 from on the prior settlement date. Still, that represented a whopping 30.7% of the total float, and it was the fourth consecutive period with more than 70 million. The days to cover rose from more than 11 to about 14 during the latest period as the average daily continued to decline.

This biopharmaceutical company is focused on treatments for constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. Short sellers watched the stock climb more than 16% but then surrender some of that gain by the conclusion of those two weeks. The most recent closing share price was $2.30, which is more than 48% lower than it was six months ago. The shares have changed hands between $1.68 and $7.15 apiece in the past year.

Comcast

Comcast Corp.’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) short interest grew more than 4% from in the previous period to more than 64.04 million shares on the most recent settlement date. That was the highest number of shares short since November, and it represented 1.4% of the total float. The days to cover figure rose to almost four from about two. Note that the 52-week peak in short interest was more than 78 million shares last May.

Comcast is seen as benefiting from changes to net neutrality. By the end of the short-interest period, the share price was only fractionally higher, despite being up more than 3% earlier in the month. The stock ended Wednesday’s trading at $41.09 a share, in a 52-week trading range of $34.78 to $42.18. The share price currently is about 6% higher than it was six months ago.

Micron Technology

The number of Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) shares short totaled almost 57.24 million on the latest settlement date. That was down more than 3% from two weeks earlier, which was an 11-month high, and it represented 5.2% of the total float. The average daily trading volume decreased as well, though the days to cover remained a little more than one.

Analysts were jumping on the Micron bandwagon during the two-week period. Yet short sellers watched the stock rise more than 6% but end up down more than 5% by the end of the month. The stock attempted to recover after the first of the year but lost steam and closed most recently at $43.31. That is up about 42% from six months ago though. The 52-week trading range is $21.49 to $49.89.

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And Others

Rounding out the top 10 were Opko Health Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK), TherapeuticsMD Inc. (NASDAQ: TXMD), Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO). The big move here was seen at Cisco, with about a 20% reduction in the number of its shares short. TherapeuticsMD saw a modest rise in short interest, the only gain among these four.

Note that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) also had a double-digit percentage drop in its total shares short, keeping it just out of the top 10 list. Also lingering outside the spotlight of the top 10 most shorted Nasdaq stocks were Ascena Retail Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) and Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX).

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