BRK.B: Short Exit Complete, Options Hedge Fades

BRK.B has recovered from $495 to $504 since the last report. Two weeks of data now tell a coherent story: shorts have finished leaving, the borrow market has gone quiet, and options hedging — while still elevated — is coming off its peak.

The Short Exit Is Done

Short interest has fallen 14.3% over the past month. The week-on-week decline is 10.6%, with a further 10.3% drop in a single day on August 25. Estimated SI now sits at 0.81% of free float — a level so low it barely registers as a bearish signal. There are simply very few shorts left to cover.

The borrow market confirms it. Cost to borrow collapsed 75% in one week to 0.37%. That's near the lowest level on record. Demand for borrowed shares has almost entirely evaporated. Availability is at the maximum reading in the dataset — over 1.4 billion shares remain available to lend with almost none actually out on loan.

This isn't a squeeze. It's an orderly exit that has now run its course.

Options Hedging: Still Elevated, But Easing

The previous report flagged the put/call ratio hitting 2.5 standard deviations above its 20-day mean. That reading has since come back in. The PCR stood at 0.6436 on August 25 — still above the 20-day mean of 0.611, but the z-score has dropped to 1.42 from the 2.9 peak. Defensive positioning in options is moderating.

The 52-week PCR range runs from 0.52 to 0.69. At 0.64, BRK.B sits in the upper third of that range. Options traders remain cautious relative to history — they haven't fully unwound the hedges placed during the slide — but the acute stress reading from earlier in the week has subsided.

Price Has Stabilised

The stock closed at $504.32 on August 25, up 0.27% on the week and 1.9% on the month. That's a recovery from the $495 low but still well below the August 10 peak of $529. The General Counsel who bought shares at $510–513 on August 12 remains underwater, though the gap has narrowed.

EPS momentum factor scores remain strong — 96th percentile on 30-day momentum, 80th percentile on 90-day. Next earnings are scheduled for November 6.

Data Summary

• SI % of free float: 0.81% (down 14.3% over one month)
• Cost to borrow: 0.37% — down 75% week-on-week, near record low
• Availability: Maximum (1.4bn shares available, minimal lent out)
• Put/call ratio: 0.644 — z-score 1.42, down from peak of 2.9
• Price: $504.32, up 1.9% over one month
• Next earnings: 6 November 2026