NICE has reversed sharply from the 13% surge flagged in last week's note, falling 6.7% over the past five sessions to ILS 333.1, with a 3.4% drop on Tuesday alone erasing a chunk of the prior rally.
The retreat puts the stock in an interesting spot: the one-week move is now firmly negative, yet the one-month gain still holds at just over 7%. That monthly cushion is the only reminder that last week's breakout happened at all. What's notable is the same dynamic observed when NICE was running higher still applies on the way down. The lending market is showing no signs of short-side conviction. Availability has actually loosened dramatically, jumping more than 150% over the past week to roughly 3,776%, meaning there are nearly 38 shares available to borrow for every one currently lent out. Cost to borrow, at 0.88%, has edged up modestly over the month but remains firmly in low territory. Shorts are not piling in to take advantage of the pullback.
The ORTEX short score reinforces that picture. At 26.2, it ranks in the 95th percentile of the universe on a low-short-interest basis, meaning very few stocks carry a less aggressive short setup than NICE does right now. The days-to-cover rank sits at the 83rd percentile, and utilization at the 65th. None of these readings point to a market leaning hard against the stock. The pullback, like the rally before it, looks like it is being driven by equity buyers stepping back rather than short sellers stepping in.
Among peers, the softness is widespread but NICE is not the worst performer. HUBS has dropped nearly 14% on the week, and WK is off 11%. BL fell 7.5%, slightly worse than NICE. KVYO is down roughly 4% and FIVN, which briefly surged alongside NICE last week, has given back 1.4%. TRMB is the only name in the peer group that is essentially flat. Software as a category is clearly in a difficult week, and NICE is moving broadly in line with the weaker names rather than bucking the sector trend as it was doing seven days ago.
On the institutional side, the register is well-populated. Principal Global Investors remains the largest disclosed holder at 7.8% of shares. Brandes and Fidelity International each added materially in the June quarter, picking up around 630,000 and 618,000 shares respectively. Phoenix Investments added nearly 395,000 shares in the same period. The fresh buying from multiple managers across two continents during a softer patch earlier in the year provides some context for who has been on the other side of any selling pressure more recently.
Analyst data for NICE is too stale to cite meaningfully; the most recent coverage on record is from late 2022. With next earnings scheduled for 12 November, the focus for the coming weeks will be on whether the stock can hold the monthly gains built during September or whether the peer-group weakness continues to drag it back toward where it started the month.
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