GeneDx Holdings heads into its June 18 earnings report with call-side options positioning at its most aggressive in months — an unusual posture for a stock sitting on nearly 16% short interest.
The bullish skew in options is the standout signal. The put/call ratio has collapsed to 0.29, almost two standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.36 — meaning call buyers are dominating the options market at a level rarely seen in the past year. That stands in sharp contrast to the typical pre-earnings rush toward downside protection. The backdrop for this positioning is a stock that surged 49% in the past month to close at $60.60, clawing back a portion of a punishing 2026 selloff. The one-week gain is 7.6%, suggesting momentum traders are chasing into the event.
Short interest complicates the story considerably. Bears remain heavily positioned, with 15.9% of the free float sold short — a level that has barely moved despite the price rally. Shares short ticked down about 6% on the week but are up 15% over the past month, suggesting fresh shorts were added into the rally. The lending market, however, shows no squeeze dynamic: borrow availability has expanded rather than tightened, with nearly four shares available for every one currently on loan. Borrowing costs are essentially negligible at under 0.4%. That rules out forced covering as the driver of recent price strength — this is buyers, not squeezed shorts.
The institutional ownership picture sharpens the bull case. Casdin Capital, a 10%-plus owner with a board seat, spent over $11 million buying shares on June 4 and June 5 at prices between $52 and $57 — within the past two weeks and well below current levels. That is a concentrated, conviction-level accumulation by an insider-affiliated institution heading directly into a known earnings catalyst. ARK Investment Management also added 720,000 shares in its most recent reported period, and Corvex Management remains the largest holder with a 16% stake built partly through recent accumulation.
The analyst debate is framed by a wide gap between Street targets and reality. Following the catastrophic May 4 print — when the stock fell 47% in a single session on what was apparently a guidance reset — analysts across Canaccord, Wells Fargo, Guggenheim, and BTIG all maintained Buy or Overweight ratings while slashing targets, some by more than half. The consensus now sits at a mean target of $77, implying roughly 27% upside from current levels. Bulls point to GeneDx's dominant positioning in pediatric and rare disease genomic sequencing, an area with structural demand growth and high switching costs. Bears counter that the May disaster exposed real execution risk: the restructuring of non-core business lines is dragging near-term results, competition in genetic testing is intensifying, and the company's heavy investment phase has yet to translate into durable profitability. The Piotroski F-score falling to 2 and return on assets deeply negative are not the metrics of a company firing on all cylinders.
The print will test whether the May collapse was a one-time reset or the beginning of a sustained deterioration — and whether the aggressive call-side positioning and Casdin's conviction buying reflect genuine visibility into a recovery, or simply a high-conviction bet that has not yet been validated by the numbers.
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