LEU short sellers are caught in a difficult position. They are covering — but the borrow market is barely letting them out cheaply.
Short interest fell 11.6% over the past week to 22.5% of free float. That is still an exceptionally heavy position. Yet availability stands at just 4.9% — roughly one share available for every 20 already lent out. Covering into that environment is driving borrow costs sharply higher.
The cost to borrow LEU hit 1.53% on June 15. That is an 84% jump in a single week. For context, the rate sat below 0.90% for most of May. It has now more than doubled from those levels.
Since the previous ORTEX convergence report on June 11, the key change is directional. Availability was at 0.0% for most of the prior three weeks. It has since edged up to 4.9% — still critically tight, but marginally less extreme than the total lock-up. That small release in supply appears to have enabled some short covering. The cost of that covering, however, is rising fast.
The stock rose 8.7% on June 15 and is up 7.9% on the week. Earnings are scheduled for June 18. That combination — heavy short positioning, near-zero availability, and a catalyst two days away — puts existing shorts in a compressed position.
UBS analyst Jon Windham lowered his price target to $170 this morning, down from $195. The stock closed at $176.65. It is now trading above UBS's revised target. Citigroup cut its target to $218 in May. B. Riley's Buy-rated target stands at $295. The mean price target across analysts sits at $278.64 — a 57% premium to the current price.
That gap between where analysts sit and where shorts are positioned is notable. Bears are not just fighting the stock. They are fighting the lending pool too.
The ORTEX short score sits at 72.9, down from a peak of 74.2 on June 2. The decline over the past two weeks is modest. At the 2nd percentile for short score rank and 1st percentile for borrow demand rank, the signals remain deeply bearish on the lending side. EPS surprise ranks at the 86th percentile — one of the stronger readings in the dataset.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open LEU 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.
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