Markets return from the July 4th break with Q2 earnings season front and centre. Short sellers, options traders, and corporate insiders have all been busy.
PepsiCo kicks off the season Tuesday, July 8. Investors want clarity on pricing power amid a tough consumer backdrop. Delta Air Lines follows Thursday, July 10. Fuel costs and forward bookings will be the focus. Levi Strauss also reports Tuesday, adding an apparel read on spending trends.
Hertz is the standout short story this week. SI % of Free Float hit 59.2% — up 16 points in two weeks. Shares available to borrow: zero. That is a powder-keg setup heading into earnings. CoreWeave is also under heavy fire. Short interest climbed to 28.4% of FF, up 8.5 points in a fortnight. Unlike Hertz, availability sits at 301%, so bears can hold their positions cheaply. Chewy remains the most-shorted large cap at 70.5% SI % FF. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat shorts are covering fast — SI dropped 4.4 points — though cost to borrow still sits at 37.7% APR.
Semiconductor executives sold heavily last week. Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson filed nearly $50M in sales over two days. Broadcom's Chief Legal Officer also filed a significant transaction. At Roivant Sciences, three insiders combined to file over $153M in disposals.
CrowdStrike and Tesla both received target price increases. Consumer names fared worse. Constellation Brands and Procter & Gamble both had targets trimmed as analysts grow cautious on staples spending.
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.
