WEN Borrow Market Hits Zero — Cost to Borrow Up 416% in a Week

Availability for WEN has collapsed to 0%. Every share in the lending pool is now out on loan. The cost to borrow has reached 16.43% — up 416% in a single week.

Why this matters: Yesterday's report noted an exhausted but not-yet-empty lending pool. That has now changed. The situation has moved from extreme to absolute. There are no shares left to borrow at any price.

The Borrow Pool Is Empty

One week ago, the cost to borrow stood at 3.18%. It hit 7.55% on June 24. Then 9.46% on June 25. Now 16.43% on June 26 — the sharpest weekly move in the current data window.

Availability was 28.1% on June 22. It fell to 20.9% on June 24, then 16.8% on June 25. As of the latest reading, it has reached 0%. There is nothing left to lend.

The move in cost reflects that dynamic directly. When availability was loose — above 50% as recently as mid-May — the rate sat below 4%. The two variables have tracked in lockstep all month. The rate is not the cause of the squeeze. It is the symptom.

Short Interest Keeps Climbing

SI has not flinched. ORTEX daily estimates put short interest at 57.7 million shares as of June 26 — 30.3% of the free float. That is up 10.2% in one week and 20.4% over the past month.

The official FINRA figure, settled June 15, showed 51.7 million shares short. The trajectory since then has moved only higher.

Days to cover stand at 6.58, based on the official data. That figure will have risen given the additional share accumulation since mid-June.

The ORTEX short score sits at 74.0, in the 5th percentile of its sector rank — meaning this is among the most heavily shorted names in the restaurant space by composite scoring.

The Stock Has Moved — Shorts Have Not

WEN is up 14.7% over the past week and 6.4% on the most recent session. That move, documented in prior reports, has not prompted meaningful covering. The short position has continued to grow through the price rise.

That combination — SI rising, availability gone, cost at a multi-month high, and price up — describes a market where new short positions cannot be opened and existing ones are becoming more expensive to carry by the day.

Earnings are scheduled for August 7. The cost to borrow in late May peaked at 22.6%, then fell sharply back to the low single digits within days. Whether the current episode follows a similar path or holds at these levels will be the key data point to monitor over the coming sessions.

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• SI % of FF: 30.3%, up 10.2% week-on-week
• Cost to borrow: 16.43%, up 416% in one week
• Availability: 0% — 52-week low
• Price: $7.80, +14.7% over one week
• Short score: 74.0 (5th percentile sector rank)
• Next earnings: August 7, 2026