HTZ is the number-one focus for short sellers right now. Short interest hit 59.2% of free float — up 11 points in a single week. Borrow availability has fallen to zero. That means no new short positions can be opened. A squeeze is a live risk heading into Q2 earnings. Options activity reflects that danger. Put buying and forced-cover setups are both on the table.
The earnings calendar builds quickly. PEP PepsiCo reports Tuesday — margins and consumer spending will be the focus. LEVI Levi Strauss also drops Q2 results the same day. Thursday brings the biggest name: DAL Delta Air Lines. Analysts at BMO just lifted their target on Delta to $105, a 31% increase. UAL and LUV received similar target hikes. The airline sector is getting fresh bullish backing just as Delta steps up to report.
AMAT CEO Gary Dickerson filed $104.8M in stock sales, spread across 15 transactions in June. At PRM Perimeter Solutions, hedge fund Windacre Partnership filed $195.6M in total sales. That is a significant exit from a board-level holder. BBY founder Richard Schulze filed $32.7M in sales. Against the selling, NXST CEO Perry Sook filed a nearly $2M open-market purchase — a rare contrarian signal.
Beyond HTZ, two other names carry elevated squeeze risk. BYND Beyond Meat saw short interest fall 4.4 points to 24.3% of free float. Cost to borrow stands at 37.7% APR. Shorts are covering. CHWY remains the most-shorted large-cap name at 70.5% of free float — extreme by any measure.
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.
