Why this matters: Options traders at CENT are leaning bullish at a two-year extreme. Short sellers are simultaneously building positions at the fastest monthly pace since records in this snapshot. The two camps are pulling in opposite directions — and the lending market is giving neither side much signal.
The put-call ratio for Central Garden & Pet fell to 0.355 on June 16. That's a 2-year low. It sits 2.4 standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.366. For context, the 52-week high on the PCR was 1.173. Options positioning has swung hard toward calls.
The stock has moved with it. CENT is up 15.2% over the past month. It closed at $43.06 on June 16.
Short interest tells the opposite story. Shares short rose 58% over the past month to roughly 486,000. The one-week pace was 12.3%. That's a meaningful acceleration.
Cost to borrow has tracked the rise. It climbed to 0.83% — up 56% week-on-week. Still a low absolute level, but the direction is clear.
Availability remains comfortable at 735%, meaning roughly 7 shares are still available to borrow for every 1 already borrowed. There is no borrow squeeze here. Short sellers can keep adding with ease.
Canaccord Genuity raised its price target to $54 from $51 in May, following the last earnings report. CENT gained 6.8% the day after that print. The consensus rating sits at Buy, with a mean target of $47.50 — roughly 10% above the current price.
The next earnings date is August 5.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CENT 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.
