Short Sellers and Smart Money Pull in Opposite Directions

Markets head into a busy earnings week with short sellers piling into beaten-down consumer names while a billionaire bets big on a European gaming giant.

Bears Target Consumer and Semis

Chewy and Wolfspeed are the week's clearest short-seller targets. Chewy's short interest hit 52.3% of free float. Bears added 4.6 percentage points in seven days alone. Wolfspeed is even more extreme at 75.3% — with zero shares left to borrow. New short positions simply cannot be opened.

Wix.com saw the sharpest jump overall. Its SI% FF leapt from 11.5% to 17.8% in a week. Bears are positioning ahead of what promises to be a volatile earnings period for consumer tech.

Earnings Week Ahead

Oracle and RH both report Thursday. Oracle's cloud and AI numbers will be closely watched. The Kroger Co. follows on Friday, with food margins in focus. In the UK, Computacenter drops first-half results this week — a key read on enterprise IT spending in Europe.

Dart's Massive Evolution Bet

Kenneth Dart bought nearly $715M worth of EVO shares in a single week in July. The trades were only disclosed on August 26. It is one of the largest insider purchases of the year. The Swedish gaming company has faced regulatory pressure. Dart's move signals strong conviction that the selloff has gone too far.

Analysts Back Autodesk and Moody's

Wall Street added fresh buy ratings on ADSK and MCO. Autodesk's consensus buy count rose to 32. Moody's moved to 18 buys with a target of $561.90. Both names are seen as resilient through any macro softness — a notable call heading into a week heavy with macro and earnings risk.