Short interest moved sharply across both directions this week. FERG and FTV led a burst of new bearish positioning in industrials, while CRWV and PPLC saw heavy short covering. Earnings season drove most of the action, with borrow costs and availability swinging hard around report dates.
FERG saw the most dramatic build. SI jumped 152% in one week to 3.6% of free float. The stock rallied 12% ahead of its August 10 earnings. Short sellers are betting against that move.
FTV SI surged 43.5% in a week to 4.7% of float. Post-earnings selling pressure and cyclical concerns in industrial markets drove the build.
AU short interest climbed 35% over the week to 1.44% of free float. The stock dropped to $87.59 on August 6. Intraday shorts trimmed 4.4%, but the weekly trend remained firmly bearish.
KB SI jumped 33% to 551,507 shares. Cost to borrow spiked from 0.85% to 7.91% in a single week. Availability remains ample at 518% of SI — shorts can still get in easily.
BSBR SI rose 26.8% to 10.3M shares. Availability fell 76%. Utilization climbed to 67%. Borrow is getting tighter fast.
CRWV was the week's biggest cover. SI dropped 39.9% to just 103,938 shares. That came even as cost to borrow climbed 131% to 4.63% — shorts exited despite rising borrow costs.
PPLC SI plunged 31% to 10.3M shares. The steepest weekly drop in recent months. Borrow costs eased to 2.1%.
HLN SI fell 24% to 10.7M shares. Availability surged to 157%. Bears are stepping back and conditions are now easier to short — but few are taking that trade.
This week's pulse data covered a single broad universe with 645 signals across short interest, cost to borrow, options, and utilization. No tight sector clusters emerged from the data. However, industrials stood out at the stock level. FERG, FTV, and ETN all appeared in the pulse universe with short-side activity. FERG and FTV both posted critical-severity SI surges. Earnings were the common trigger.
Semiconductors saw split signals. SOXL SI jumped 17.4% in one day but fell 28.5% over the full week. The SOXL convergence showed puts still piling in even as shorts covered. SOXL borrow tightened alongside that options activity.
Gold and mining names — AU, GFI, CDE — all appeared in the pulse universe with short-side activity, suggesting some rotation of bearish interest into the metals space.
Several tickers this week showed multi-signal alignment — SI, borrow, options, and analyst data all pointing the same direction.
DDOG — Options hedging spiked as shorts covered ahead of earnings. A classic pre-earnings short squeeze setup.
SOXL — Shorts covered fast, but put buyers kept piling in. Bears moved from the borrow market to the options market.
TLRY — Borrow pool near empty. Call buyers active. A high-risk, high-conviction setup with squeeze potential.
BBDO — Borrow maxed out post-earnings as shorts piled in. SI surged 23% over the week before a single-session 5.9% reversal. Availability hit 152% — contradictory signals worth watching.
TASK — Borrow market seized up ahead of earnings. No shares easily available. A hard-to-short name going into a catalyst.
HSTM — Bears built into earnings. SI hit 3.8% of float. A deliberate, pre-catalyst short build.
NBIX — Options traders turned bearish as the stock slid 14%. Bears in both the borrow and options markets aligned.
DT — Surged 11% post-earnings. Shorts trimmed. Options turned bullish. A clean short squeeze with follow-through.
KORU — Borrow pool still empty. Cost to borrow climbed to a monthly high. One of the hardest names to short in the universe right now.
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.
