Bears Pile In Before Earnings Week

Short sellers stepped up pressure across several names this week. Data as of July 30 shows notable moves in both familiar and surprising tickers.

Chewy leads the charge. Short interest hit 82.4% of free float, up 10 points in just seven days. Sellers are clearly betting the pet-supply retailer struggles. Hertz is close behind at 84.6% SI, also up nearly 10 points on the week. Both names feature prominently in today's high-impact news flow, flagged as key bear targets heading into earnings season.

Sable Offshore saw the sharpest weekly jump among mid-caps. SI leapt from 32% to 43.7%, a rise of +11.3 percentage points. Avis Budget Group also drew fresh shorts, climbing to 36.2%, up 7 points.

On the AI-buzz front, SoundHound AI sits at 43.2% SI — shorts haven't backed off despite heavy social media attention. Lucid Group saw a slight covering, SI dipping to 33.6% from 36%.

Palantir bucks the trend. SI is a modest 3.3% and falling slightly. Bulls dominate there.

Groupon remains a high-conviction short at 74.3%, up nearly 9 points on the week.

This is not financial advice.