Core Scientific has reversed nearly all of last week's 17% surge in a broad sector pullback, with the stock down 13% on the week to $16.31, creating a stark contrast between the Street's bullish consensus and the price action bears are now pointing to.
The reversal is a sector-wide story, not a CORZ-specific one. Close peers KEEL and CIFR fell 14% and 13.5% respectively over the same period. IREN dropped nearly 15%, and BTDR led the group lower at almost 17%. CLSK held up best at around 12% down. The uniformity of the move points to a macro or sentiment-driven rotation out of digital infrastructure names rather than anything company-specific at CORZ.
Short positioning has actually eased during the pullback, which complicates the bear narrative. At 20.2% of the free float, short interest fell nearly 4% on the week and is down about 4% from the mid-September peak near 65 million shares. Borrowing costs remain unusually cheap at 0.50%, barely changed week on week. Availability is loose at 260%, meaning roughly 2.6 shares are available to borrow for every one already short, well above the 52-week trough of 38.5%. The ORTEX short score of 65.9 has drifted lower from 67.8 earlier in the week. None of this looks like short sellers building conviction into the drop. They are, if anything, trimming.
Options traders have not turned defensive either, which is notable given the price action. The put/call ratio moved up only slightly to 0.37, still below its 20-day average of 0.39 and a full standard deviation below neutral on the z-score. The 52-week high for the PCR is 0.63, so relative to that history, call positioning remains dominant. The picture a week ago was even more bullish at 0.35, so options sentiment has modestly cooled but has not rotated into protection-buying despite a 13% drop.
The Street is not flinching. Three analysts initiated coverage in the week ending September 23: UBS at Buy with a $24 target, Wells Fargo at Overweight with $28, and Rothschild at Neutral with a $16 target equal to the current price. The broader consensus sits at 17 Buys, with a mean target of $33.90, implying more than 100% upside from current levels. The bull case rests on the CoreWeave contract (243MW delivered, the full 590MW due online in early 2027) and gross margin guidance of 80 to 85% on that deal. The bear case centres on the self-mining segment, which recorded a negative 57% gross margin in Q1 2026 as Bitcoin prices weakened and management rationalized the fleet. EV/EBITDA has compressed to 11.6x over the past month, down roughly 0.8x over 30 days, as the price fell and forward estimates held.
Factor scores present a split picture. EPS surprise ranks in the 100th percentile and the 90-day EPS momentum score is 98, reflecting sharp forward earnings revisions. But the 30-day EPS momentum has collapsed to the 3rd percentile, suggesting the near-term revision trend has stalled sharply. The short score rank of 7 is low, consistent with the loose borrow conditions described above.
Earnings are next on November 2. The two most recent prints produced first-day moves of negative 3.5% and negative 12.6%. The five-day reaction to the July print recovered to nearly plus 10%, while the August result left the stock down 9% over five days. The pattern is not encouraging for bulls holding into the release, though the setup that week will depend heavily on where Bitcoin trades and whether management updates CoreWeave delivery timelines.
What to watch between now and November 2: whether short interest rebuilds as the stock sits near the Rothschild target of $16, whether the borrow market tightens from its current loose state, and whether the PCR begins to shift toward protection as earnings approach.
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