USA Compression Partners gained 5.1% on the week to close at $26.34 — bucking a broad sell-off across its correlated peers while the short score quietly eased from a mid-week spike.
The most striking feature of this week's tape is the contrast between USAC and its oilfield services neighbors. HAL fell 2.1% on the week and PTEN dropped 4.5%. ESI and PD on the TSX each shed more than 6.5%. Against that backdrop, USAC's 5% gain stands out — and it was not driven by a short squeeze. Short interest is low at just over 2% of free float and edged down 1.3% on the week. The borrow market is exceptionally loose: availability is running at nearly 3,840% — meaning lenders hold roughly 38 shares available for every one currently borrowed. Cost to borrow has also dropped sharply, down 32% on the week to around 1.1%, after briefly spiking above 3% in early June. There is no meaningful squeeze dynamic here.
Options positioning is mildly more cautious than usual but nothing dramatic. The put/call ratio ticked up to 0.21, slightly above its 20-day average of 0.20 and about one standard deviation above the mean. That is a long way from the 52-week high of 3.45, suggesting the options market is not pricing in significant downside risk. The ORTEX short score eased to 46.9 from a recent high of 53.2 on June 19 — a move that reflects loosening borrow conditions more than any change in underlying bearish conviction.
The Street's view is modestly constructive but capped. Mizuho raised its price target to $29 from $28 on June 12, maintaining a Neutral rating. RBC Capital lifted its target to $30 from $29 the week prior, also holding at Sector Perform. The mean price target across coverage sits at roughly $29.67, implying around 13% upside from current levels — but no firm has an outright Buy recommendation on file in recent data. JP Morgan carries an Underweight with a $25 target, the lone bearish outlier on the Street. The EV/EBITDA multiple has compressed slightly over the past month to around 7.5x, while the PE has drifted down to 16x — both modest moves but in the direction of cheaper. The dividend score ranks in the 98th percentile of the universe, reflecting USAC's identity as a yield-focused MLP, though the dividend history in the data runs back only to 2022 and should be treated as context rather than a current distribution read.
Ownership is heavily concentrated. Energy Transfer LP holds 26% of shares and has not changed its position. J-W Energy Company holds another 12.5%. Together with ALPS Advisors at 13%, these three names account for more than half the share register — a structure that limits float and can amplify price moves on modest volume. ALPS added 1.3 million shares in the most recent reported period, while JPMorgan trimmed just over a million. Neither move is dramatic relative to the overall register, but the ALPS addition is worth noting given the fund's MLP mandate.
The next earnings date is August 4. The most recent print in May produced a negligible one-day move of less than 0.2%, followed by an 8.4% gain over the subsequent five sessions — a pattern that suggests the market tends to digest USAC results slowly rather than reacting sharply on the day. Whether this week's outperformance relative to peers is a temporary divergence or the start of re-rating back toward the analyst consensus near $30 is the question worth tracking into that August print.
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