Short sellers are piling into CELH at the fastest pace in months. Options traders are betting the other way. The divergence is sharp.
Short interest in Celsius Holdings hit 14.2% of free float on June 12. That is up 22% in a single week. Over the past month, it has risen 67%. This is the highest level in several months and the ORTEX short score sits at 69.7 — a meaningful increase from 65.1 just two weeks ago.
The lending market is tightening in step. Availability has dropped to 108% — down from 191% a month ago and 224% at the start of May. That is a rapid compression. Each share borrowed now has barely one share still available in the pool. Cost to borrow has risen 22% over the past week to 0.62%.
Bears are clearly building conviction. The stock is down 4.7% over the past month and has shed more than a third of its value year-to-date.
The put-call ratio tells a different story. It sits at 0.39 — 2.3 standard deviations below its 20-day mean. That is the most bullish options positioning since May 13. Calls are dominating the flow by a wide margin. Options traders are not positioned alongside the shorts.
This creates a genuine tension in the data. Short sellers are adding exposure at a record pace. Options traders are adding calls. One side will be wrong.
Bernstein initiated coverage on June 12 with an Outperform rating and a $44 target. The stock closed at $28.74 on June 15. That implies 53% upside to Bernstein's target alone. The broader consensus across 13 buy-rated analysts sits at a mean price target of $60.57 — more than double the current price.
JP Morgan maintains Overweight with a $70 target. Morgan Stanley holds Overweight at $55. BNP Paribas trimmed its target to $57 from $70 in May but kept its Outperform rating. Analysts broadly agree the Alani Nu integration into PepsiCo's distribution network is a structural growth driver.
In late May, three insiders purchased shares near current levels. CEO John Fieldly bought $249k worth on May 22. President and COO Eric Hanson bought $218k on May 21. Lead Independent Director Hal Kravitz added $250k the same week. Net insider buying over the past 90 days totals over $1.3 million.
What to watch: The next earnings event is August 7. Short interest is rising fast, availability is tightening, and the options market is leaning the other way — the setup into Q2 results is unusually polarised.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CELH on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
