Short Sellers Get Selective About Top Chip Stocks

Intel Corp.‘s (NASDAQ: INTC), short interest fell 14.3% to 141.2 million shares. About 2.9% of Intel’s float is now short. Days to cover is five. In the two-week short interest period, shares slipped about 2.7%, but they are up about 44% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $37.44. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.50 to $37.90.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) saw short interest rise by 2.2% to 146.38 million shares, or 23.2% of the company’s total float. Days to cover is nine. In the two-week short interest period, shares fell 13% and are down nearly 32% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $2.66. The stock’s 52-week range is $2.35 to $4.80.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) short interest rose 8.7% to 16.06 million shares, which represents about 1% of the company’s float. Days to cover is two. In the short interest period, shares slipped 2.6%, but they are up about 0.5% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $74.66. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $67.67 to $81.97.

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Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) saw a 7.7% increase in short interest to 77.1 million shares, which represents about 6.3% of the firm’s float. Days to cover is six. In the two-week short interest period, shares fell 2%, although the share price has risen nearly 43% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $25.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $16.40 to $25.71.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) showed a drop of 2.9% in short interest to 88.34 million shares, or about 8.3% of Micron’s float. Days to cover is five. In the short interest period, shares fell about 6.4% but have risen more than 60% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $34.91. The stock’s 52-week range is $20.64 to $36.59.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) saw short interest rise by 3.4% to 15.78 million shares, or about 7.2% of the company’s float. Days to cover is five. The stock price is up about 43% since the beginning of the year, but shares lost 6.4% in the two-week period to December 15. The stock’s 52-week range is $66.80 to $108.77, and shares ended Wednesday at $100.65.

Broadcom Corp.‘s (NASDAQ: BRCM) short interest fell 33.5% to 5.52 million shares. That is just 1% of the company’s total float. Days to cover is one. In the two-week short interest period, shares fell almost 2%, but they have risen more than 46% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close at $43.38. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.30 to $44.33.

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