LNTH heads into the final quarter with short sellers in retreat and the options market tilting more constructively than it has all year, even as the Street remains cautious following a bruising round of August downgrades.
The positioning picture has shifted notably since late August. Short interest has fallen nearly 20% over the past month to around 6% of the free float, down from above 5.2 million shares in mid-August to roughly 3.97 million now. The move is not a squeeze: borrowing costs are close to negligible at 0.32%, and availability is extraordinarily loose at over 2,700%, meaning there are roughly 27 shares available to borrow for every one currently lent out. That is well above the 52-week minimum of around 322%, a level that itself was not tight. Short sellers have not been forced out; they have simply chosen to exit. The ORTEX short score of 41.7 corroborates the softer conviction, ranking LNTH in the bottom 40% of names on short-side pressure.
Options traders have moved in the opposite direction. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.29, near the 52-week low of 0.26 and comfortably below the 20-day average of 0.31. Six weeks ago, the PCR was above 0.43; the steady compression since then reflects a market that is rebuilding call exposure and pulling back on downside hedges. The z-score of minus 0.53 is not extreme, but the direction of travel over September is consistent and clear.
The Street is more divided. A cluster of downgrades in early August, following what the bear case frames as a fragile post-earnings setup, left the consensus at Hold with a mean price target around $108. Truist and TD Cowen both cut to Hold from Buy in the first week of August, trimming targets to $102.50. Mizuho held its Outperform but pulled its target from $120 to $115. Against that, Mizuho's Outperform and a Buy from B. Riley at $129 mean the bull camp has not emptied out entirely. The debate between the two camps is well-defined in the company's own research. Bulls point to the Alzheimer's imaging opportunity management sizes at around $1.5 billion by 2030, the FDA approval for PYLARIFY TruVu, and reiterated FY26 revenue guidance of $1.40 billion to $1.45 billion. Bears focus on the CRL for LNTH-2501 and the remaining quarters of TPT disadvantage in Pylarify before any 4Q26 acceleration. The forward PE of around 16 times and EV/EBITDA near 11.8 times are not demanding for a radiopharmaceutical franchise with this growth profile, with the 12-month forward earnings growth factor ranking in the 75th percentile across the ORTEX universe.
One number from the alternative data layer stands out, though not as a fundamental signal. Wikipedia page views for Lantheus are running at a z-score of 3.55 against the company's own 90-day history, flagged by the ORTEX alt-data layer as of September 22. This is a retail-attention reading, not a revenue indicator, but a spike this sharp typically accompanies a news catalyst or a period of heightened market discussion. Given the FDA calendar around the company, including the next earnings print on November 5, that context is worth keeping in mind.
Institutional positioning shows some notable recent movement. American Century added over one million shares in the period to August 31, making it one of the more active builders in the register. Janus Henderson added around 414,000 shares over the same period. Farallon Capital, now holding 8.6% of the class per its latest 13G/A filed in August, is the largest disclosed active holder. No 13D activist is on the register. Insider activity in the past 90 days is limited to routine tax-withholding transactions coded as F, with zero net open-market buying or selling.
The next hard date is the Q3 earnings report on November 5. Between now and then, LNTH trades at a stock near its August lows, with short sellers retreating, options market more constructive, but analysts cautious and the core Pylarify franchise narrative still unresolved.
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