POET Technologies is heading into mid-September with a notable reversal in short positioning — bears have pulled back sharply over the past month while the borrow market has swung from near-fully-used to comfortably loose.
The short story here is genuinely interesting. Short interest has fallen to 16.3% of the free float, down from a peak above 20% at the start of August. The drop is steep: shorts are down 23.6% over the past 30 days, with another 11.9% single-session decline recorded on September 10 alone. That kind of accelerated covering, when combined with a stock that managed a 4.6% gain on September 11, points to short sellers reducing exposure rather than initiating new pressure. The borrow market confirms the shift. Availability has swung dramatically — from a tight range of 28–40% through most of August to 146.8% as of September 10, meaning more shares are now available to borrow than are currently borrowed. The 52-week minimum availability was 2.4%, so this loosening is extreme relative to recent history. Cost to borrow has also eased, running at just 0.58% — a 30-day low — after touching above 1.3% in early August. The ORTEX short score has moved in the same direction, slipping from 66.4 to 63.5 over the past week, though it remains elevated enough to flag continued bearish interest.
Options traders are not hedging. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.16, slightly below its 20-day average of 0.17 and near the lower end of its 52-week range (0.03–0.43). The z-score of -1.3 is mildly call-skewed. That combination — shorts covering, borrow loosening, options leaning bullish — makes the current setup less adversarial than it appeared a month ago. Positioning looks transitional rather than decisively committed in either direction.
The 13D/G register carries several large passive holders worth noting. MMCAP International remains the biggest on-file name at 9.99% of class, though that is down from a prior filing at 11.0%, suggesting some trimming. Kenneth Griffin filed at 5.9% in July, and Jane Street disclosed 5.5% in August — down from 6.8% previously. Group One Trading filed an amendment on September 8 showing a sharp drop from 5.5% to just 0.7%, a near-full exit. None of these carry activist intent (all Schedule 13G, passive), but the exits and trims from some trading-oriented holders may help explain part of the recent short covering. As a standard caveat: 13D/G stakes are as-last-disclosed around the 5% threshold; holders who drop below that level may not file again.
Analyst coverage is sparse and stale — the most recent price target actions on file date from late 2024, with Northland at $7.00 (Outperform) and Craig-Hallum at $5.50 (Buy). The consensus mean target is $14.75 against a current price of $7.95, but given the vintage of those targets (roughly 21 months old), that gap should be treated with caution rather than as a live signal. Among peers, AMD gained 13.1% on the week and SMTC surged 23.5%, so the semiconductor tape broadly had a strong week. POET's 0.4% weekly move looks pedestrian against that backdrop, suggesting the stock is not yet catching the sector bid despite the improved positioning picture.
The next earnings event is flagged for November 13. POET's recent results have been mixed on price reaction: the May 2026 print delivered an 11% next-day gain before fading, the August 2026 print was up 8% on day one then gave back 6.8% by day five. What to watch heading into that date is whether the short covering of recent weeks holds, and whether the newly loose borrow market attracts fresh positioning — in either direction — as the company moves closer to its next disclosure.
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