Investing

Short Sellers Continue Cuts to Meme Stock Positions

Paul Ausick

Published: July 13, 2021 9:35 am

Short sales in some of the most popular meme stocks mostly declined during the two-week reporting period that ended on June 30. Four of the six companies we watch saw big drops in short interest, one had a small decline in short interest and the sixth experienced a double-digit increase in short interest. These and other meme stocks are quite volatile, and big share price swings can come from news or from chatter among millions of small, retail investors.

AMC International Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) had its short interest drop by 11.3% in the two-week period ended June 30. About 75.5 million shares, 15.1% of the total float, were short, and days to cover remained at one. The share price fell by 4% in the two-week period. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.91 to $72.62, and it closed down 7.75% on Monday at $42.61. Shares traded down another 4.2% in Tuesday’s premarket session.

BlackBerry Ltd. (NYSE: BB) experienced a drop of 1.8% in short interest over the reporting period. Short sales totaled 37.06 million shares and accounted for about 6.6% of BlackBerry’s total float. Days to cover remained at one The stock dropped 4.6% on Monday to close at $11.25, and it traded down about 1.2% in Tuesday’s premarket session. The stock had lost about 12.7% from its price in the two weeks ended June 30.

Clover Health Investments Corp.’s (NASDAQ: CLOV) short interest tumbled by 13.3% for the two weeks. Short sales totaled 35.89 million shares, or 27.8% of the stock’s total float. Days to cover remained at one, and the share price dipped by 3.3%% in the period. The stock’s 52-week range is $6.31 to $28.85, and shares closed Monday at $9.68, which was up about 4.4% for the day. Shares traded down about 1.2% in Tuesday’s premarket session.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) short sellers cut their positions by 15% over the reporting period. Some 14.2% of the company’s stock was sold short, a total of 8.22 million shares. Days to cover remained at one. The stock ended the period with a share-price decline of around 3.8%. Its 52-week range is $3.77 to $483.00, and shares closed Monday down 1% at $189.25. They traded down less than 1% in Tuesday’s premarket.

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) saw a jump of 30.3% in short interest in the final two weeks of last month. Just 4.7% of the stock’s total float, or 68.13 million shares, were sold short, and days to cover rose from one to two. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $8.90 to $45.00, and it closed down about 1.5% on Monday to $22.95. Shares traded down by less than 1% in Tuesday’s premarket. Over the past two weeks, the stock has added about 8% to its price.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.’s (NYSE: SPCE) short interest fell by 16.3% in the two-week period. Days to cover remained at two. Some 28.74 million shares were sold short, or about 17.4% of the total float. The share price added about 32% over the short interest period. Shares closed down more than 17% on Monday, at $40.69, and slipped by another 3.6% in Tuesday’s premarket trading.