EchoStar Heads Into Earnings with Bears Fading but Not Gone

EchoStar reports on August 3 with short sellers still holding a meaningful position — but the six-week cover trade has fundamentally changed the character of that bet.

The short-side story is one of retreat, not conviction. Short interest has fallen to 19.3% of the free float — roughly 30.2 million shares — down from a late-June peak near 39.8 million. The month-over-month decline is just over 20%, though the pace has slowed sharply: the weekly change is essentially flat at +0.6%. Borrow costs tell the same story of easing pressure, dropping to 0.41% — less than half what they were a month ago and at the low end of the 30-day range. Availability has opened out to around 206%, meaning there are roughly two shares available to borrow for every one already shorted. That is a comfortable lending market. There is no squeeze dynamic here. The ORTEX short score of 64.9 reflects the still-elevated float percentage rather than any acceleration in fresh positioning.

Options traders are likewise not sounding any alarm. The put/call ratio is running at 0.52, only marginally above its 20-day average of 0.51, and the z-score of 0.49 is well within normal range. Near the 52-week high of 0.57, the ratio has room to move but has not done so. Options positioning describes a market that is modestly cautious — not one bracing for a sharp move in either direction.

The fundamental picture is harder to read. EV/EBITDA is running at 23.3x, down about 0.7 points over the past month as the stock has shed 17%. The price-to-book multiple is 2.2x. The ORTEX sector score ranks in the 88th percentile — an unusually strong relative reading for a company trading at these levels — while the EV/EBIT factor sits at just the 3rd percentile, flagging persistent questions about profitability. The stock carries a negative trailing P/E of -64x, reflecting ongoing net losses. The short-score rank at the 7th percentile underlines how highly shorted this name remains versus the broader universe, even after the covering.

Institutional ownership offers one notable data point. Charles Ergen holds 31.3% of shares, with the Ergen Family Trust holding a further 18.9% — together that is a majority of the company in friendly hands. State Street added more than 9 million shares as of June 30, and Wellington Management added over 7 million shares in the same period, both material moves suggesting some institutional conviction. Recent insider activity in early July was immaterial — small tax-related sells on award grants, all at significance scores of 1 out of 10.

The three most recent earnings prints each produced a positive next-day move of roughly 1-2%, but the five-day drift was more mixed — one event saw the stock gain 7%, another fell more than 8% over the same window. The pattern suggests the market tends to give the report a pass on day one but then reassesses as the week progresses. With the stock already down 17% over the past month, the setup heading into Monday's release is less about whether results clear a high bar and more about whether management commentary gives the covering trade a reason to accelerate — or reverses it.