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Amprius Technologies enters the week with an unusual split: short sellers are holding large positions even as options markets lean more bullish than they have in months.
Short interest remains deeply elevated at 18.4% of the free float, with roughly 24 million shares sold short. The position has barely moved over the week, down just 0.3%, though it has grown 6.3% over the past month. The ORTEX short score has held in a tight range around 66 to 67 throughout October, a level that places the stock in the 5th percentile for short score rank within its sector. That means shorts are firmly entrenched and showing no urgency to cover.
The borrow market does not back up any squeeze thesis. Availability is running at 179% of current short interest, meaning lenders hold roughly 51.5 million shares ready to borrow against the 24 million currently lent out. Cost to borrow is negligible at 0.48%, with only a modest 6% rise over the week. The lending market is loose and getting looser relative to where it sat in late September, when availability was closer to 190%. Shorts face no mechanical pressure from the borrow side.
Options positioning tells a different story. Call demand has picked up enough to push the put/call ratio to 0.50, almost 1.7 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.55. That makes this one of the more call-heavy readings of the past year, the 52-week range runs from 0.18 to 0.73. The PCR has been trending lower since mid-September, when it sat above 0.62. The drift toward calls is notable given the stock is down 9% over the past month to $9.44.
The Street is unanimously bullish, though the gap between targets and reality is wide. Eight analysts rate the stock a buy. The most recent action came from HC Wainwright, which reiterated its Buy in late September with an $18 target, implying nearly 90% upside from the current price. Earlier this summer, Jones Trading initiated at Buy with a $30 target, and Clear Street came in at $33. The mean target across the panel is $22.88. The consensus reflects confidence in the SiCore battery ramp, 93 customers now, including 43 new wins in the latest quarter, and projections for margins to expand from roughly 15% today toward 25 to 27% by 2028. The bear case centres on persistent losses. The net loss for the latest quarter was $6.4 million, and the operating loss, though narrowed from $12.9 million to $6.8 million, leaves the company burning cash. EV/EBITDA sits at 86.9x, down from its 30-day peak but still expensive for a company yet to turn profitable. The EPS momentum factor score for the past 30 days ranks in the 99th percentile, meaning near-term estimate revisions have been strongly positive, while the 90-day reading sits at zero, flagging a more mixed picture over the longer window.
On the ownership side, BlackRock has been adding. Its latest 13G/A amendment, filed in July, lifted its stake from 5.8% to 7.4%, or roughly 10.7 million shares. Institutional data to September 30 confirms BlackRock at 11.3 million shares, and Geode Capital and State Street both added in the most recent period. Recent insider activity is a softer signal. CEO Thomas Stepien sold 8,000 shares at $10.03 on August 24 and a further 23,529 shares on August 21 at $10.34. The CTO and a director also sold in August. None were under a 10b5-1 plan. The net insider position over the past 90 days is negative 258,250 shares, worth roughly $3.7 million in sales. Selling at prices well above today's $9.44 adds context to the current weakness.
Wikipedia retail attention has spiked sharply, with a z-score of 4.3 as of late September, well above the stock's own 90-day history. That can reflect speculative interest or news-driven curiosity rather than any fundamental change. With the next earnings print scheduled for November 5, the question over the coming weeks is whether the bullish options positioning and firm analyst targets can hold together as the stock trades 60% below the mean price target, with shorts making no move to reduce.
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