REX American Resources enters September with a curious split: the stock nudged up 1.2% on the week to $41.99, yet the borrowing cost to short it has tripled in just five sessions — a sharp divergence that deserves attention even if the underlying short position remains modest.
The most striking data point this week is in the lending market. Cost to borrow has jumped from around 0.53% to 1.49% — nearly a 184% rise in a week — reaching its highest level in the 30-day lookback window by a wide margin. That said, the absolute cost remains low in any historical sense, and availability is extraordinarily loose at over 5,600%, meaning there are roughly 56 shares available to borrow for every one currently shorted. This is not a squeeze setup. The borrow spike looks more like incremental demand hitting a thin, lightly traded lending market than any coordinated bearish campaign. Short interest itself has edged up 4.9% week-on-week to roughly 2.5% of free float — a level that barely registers as a meaningful short position. The direction of travel is worth monitoring, but the scale is not alarming.
Options positioning adds to the cautiously constructive tone. The put/call ratio has dropped sharply — from around 0.20 through most of August to just 0.083 now, well below its 20-day average of 0.16 and near the 52-week low. That means call volume heavily dominates the options market, a sign that buyers of optionality are leaning bullish rather than defensive. The z-score of -1.28 confirms the read: this is the least put-heavy the options book has been all year.
The Street view carries a significant caveat on freshness. The only active coverage comes from Truist Securities, which has maintained a Buy rating through a series of target reductions — from $70 in April 2024 down to $50 by March 2025. The most recent action is over 18 months old, which makes those figures a weak guide to current sentiment. At $41.99, the stock trades roughly 16% below that stale $50 target, but given the distance in time, the figure should be taken as background colour rather than a live price anchor. The ORTEX short score has drifted higher through August, reaching 36.7 — a middling reading that ranks in the 43rd percentile relative to peers, suggesting neither strong bearish conviction nor a clear squeeze signal. Factor scores are similarly unremarkable: sector rank at the 50th percentile, days-to-cover in the 33rd.
Institutional ownership tells a more interesting story. BlackRock is the largest holder at roughly 17% of shares, and Dimensional Fund Advisors has been building — its 13G filing showed a jump from 7.3% to 13% of the class. Both are passive-leaning holders, so the increase reflects index and quant demand more than active conviction. The Vanguard Group, meanwhile, filed a 13G/A in March 2026 showing its stake had fallen to zero, having previously held 7.73%. That exit is notable: Vanguard's departure removed a meaningful passive anchor from the register, though the net effect has been absorbed without visible price pressure. Stuart Rose, the Executive Chairman, remains a significant presence with the Stuart Rose Family Foundation holding 7.1% of shares — a concentrated family interest that has historically kept the float tight.
REX reports next on December 1. The August 27 earnings print produced a modest -2.8% next-day move, which is broadly in line with its historical pattern of contained post-earnings reactions. Between now and December, the key tension is whether the quiet short interest build of the past month — up 17% in shares over 30 days — continues at the same pace, and whether the spike in borrowing costs proves transient or marks a genuine shift in sentiment from a market that has otherwise been content to own the stock rather than short it.
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