Options traders are aggressively buying calls on CBRE even as short sellers build their largest position in months. The divergence is sharp — and the data behind both sides is moving fast.
CBRE's put-call ratio hit 0.56 on June 16. That is the lowest reading in 52 weeks. It sits 3.6 standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.84.
That is not a routine dip. Over the prior month, the PCR barely moved — hugging 0.84 with minimal variance. Then, in a single session, call positioning surged to a level the market hasn't seen all year. Options traders are making a clear directional bet.
The stock is up about 4.2% over the past month and trades at $135.47. Analysts maintain a consensus mean price target of $177.17 — a gap of roughly 31% to current levels. Barclays and Evercore ISI both raised targets in April and May.
While options traders piled into calls, short sellers have been steadily building. Short interest has risen 65% over the past month to 1.93% of free float. The one-week jump alone was nearly 30%.
At under 2% of float, the absolute level remains low. This is not a heavily shorted stock. But the pace of accumulation is notable — from roughly 3.5 million shares short in late May to 5.7 million today.
The bear case centers on valuation. CBRE trades at roughly 16x earnings and 12x EV/EBITDA — elevated relative to the cycle, though off late-2024 peaks. The bear thesis explicitly flags elevated multiples and CRE transaction risk.
Cost to borrow jumped 66% over the past week to 0.57%. That sounds dramatic. In practice, 0.57% remains historically cheap to borrow.
Availability stands at 8,654% — meaning there are roughly 86 shares available to borrow for every one already lent out. The lending market is not tight by any measure. Short sellers face no friction building further.
What to watch: Whether the options call surge reflects conviction ahead of the July 23 earnings print — or whether short sellers, now at a multi-month high, see something the options market does not.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CBRE 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.
