Bears Pile Into Lucid, Hertz; Chewy Shorts Deepen

Short sellers stepped up bets against several mid-cap names this week. LCID saw the biggest jump among notable stocks. Short interest hit 50.1% of free float, up 14.6 percentage points in seven days. Shares to borrow are nearly gone — availability sits at just 0.46% of short interest. Cost to borrow has climbed to 6.7%.

HTZ is another name bears are loading up on. Short interest rose to 67.2% of free float, a 7.3 point increase on the week. Availability is effectively zero, a sign that shorts are scrambling for stock to lend. CHWY also attracted fresh selling, with SI up 5.6 points to 72.6% of free float.

WOLF stays deep in bear territory at 81.1% of free float shorted. The chipmaker has shed nearly 59% over three months. Availability is zero, yet cost to borrow remains low at just 2.3% — an unusual split that could signal crowded positioning.

On the other side, shorts covered hard in REPL and NMAX. Replimune dropped 7.5 points to 35.4%. Newsmax fell 7.3 points to 15.6%.

BABA made headlines today after a report that a US government site quietly used its Qwen AI. Short interest remains light at 1.8% of free float, with ample borrow availability at 166%.