AHR Bulls Dominate Options as Call Interest Hits Near-Yearly Extreme

AHR arrives at today's earnings print with options markets signalling the most bullish positioning seen in nearly a year, even as the stock has pulled back modestly and short sellers have stopped their retreat.

The options setup is the sharpest signal heading into the release. Call demand is exceptionally dominant — the put/call ratio dropped to 0.13 on August 6, nearly 2.7 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.28. That reading is close to the 52-week low of 0.07, meaning the options market has rarely been this call-skewed over the past year. This is a notable shift from the already-bullish 0.24 reading flagged in the August 3 preview. The lean is now considerably more extreme.

Short interest tells a steadier story. The retreat in short positioning has largely stalled. SI held at roughly 9.9% of the free float as of August 5 — unchanged from the prior preview — after tumbling about 17% over the two weeks prior. The borrowing market remains easy: cost to borrow is just 0.47%, down 24% over the past month. Availability is loose at 679%, well above the 52-week low of 163% reached at end of June, meaning there is ample capacity in the lending pool for anyone wanting to add short exposure. The stock itself has slipped 1.8% on the week to $54.71, underperforming most peers — WELL was flat, VTR edged up 0.4%, while OHI fell 3.4%.

The analyst community remains broadly constructive. Citizens raised its target to $65 and Compass Point initiated at Buy with a $70 target, both within the past two weeks. UBS lifted its target to $63 earlier in July. The consensus mean target is $60.40 — roughly 10% above the current price. The bull case centres on $600 million of expected 2026 acquisitions, Trilogy's seniors housing momentum, and an 11.8% two-year CAGR projection for the skilled nursing portfolio. Bears point to tenant default risk, regulatory exposure in skilled nursing, and a PE multiple above 76x that leaves little room for disappointment. One factor score worth noting: the analyst recommendation differential ranks in the 100th percentile — essentially every analyst who has updated their view recently has moved in the same direction.

Today's print is therefore less a test of whether AHR is growing and more a question of whether the Trilogy segment occupancy gains and acquisition pipeline are materialising fast enough to justify a valuation that has run well ahead of the broader healthcare REIT peer group.