Bears Pile In: Rental Cars and Retail in the Crosshairs

Short sellers turned decisively bearish on rental car names and battered consumer stocks this week. The moves are among the sharpest seen in months.

HTZ now carries 84.6% SI % FF — up nearly 10 percentage points in seven days. Bears have been grinding higher since mid-July. The stock is down 74% over three months. Rival CAR (Avis Budget) also moved sharply. SI % FF jumped from 29.1% to 36.2% in a week.

CHWY is another mover. Short interest hit 82.4% of free float. That's up from 63% three weeks ago — a relentless climb higher.

GRPN saw a sudden leap too. SI % FF jumped from 65.8% to 74.3% in a single week despite a 96% three-month price gain. Bears clearly doubt the rally.

On the flip side, ELF (e.l.f. Beauty) saw shorts bail. SI % FF dropped 41.8% in one week to just 11.3%. That's a sharp unwind of bearish positioning.

WOLF (Wolfspeed) sits at 79.2% SI % FF with a cost to borrow of 5.4%. EVCM (EverCommerce) carries the highest short score at 95.7 with a CTB of 40%.