Stories are generated from ORTEX data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. How we publish
ABEV just saw its steepest single-session short interest drop on record. Shares short fell 32% in one day to 92.3 million, unwinding a position that had been stable above 136 million for most of October. That is a material change from the picture described in articles published here five days ago, when the lending market appeared dormant and short sellers showed no sign of pressing the trade.
The borrow market confirms the shift. Cost to borrow has fallen to 0.83%, down 46% over the past month. Availability has moved from tight to loose: at 117%, there is now more than one share available to borrow for every share currently borrowed. A month ago availability briefly touched 8.53%, its 52-week low. The swing has been sharp.
The short covering arrives despite, not because of, the analyst backdrop. Bank of America's Underperform, issued 7 October, still stands. UBS carries a Sell. Scotiabank is at Sector Perform. No analyst on the register holds a Buy. The consensus has not shifted since the earlier articles were published, and the BofA price target of $3.30 sits only fractionally above the current price of $3.19.
The options market adds a layer of caution that persists. The put-call ratio stands at 0.44, about 1.6 standard deviations above its 20-day mean of 0.34. For most of September the PCR was locked in a tight band around 0.31. The move higher began in early October and has not reversed, suggesting options buyers are still hedging downside even as short sellers reduce their positions.
ABEV reports on 28 October, 16 days away. The EPS surprise factor score sits at the 80th percentile, and 30-day EPS momentum is at the 68th percentile, both above-average readings heading into the print. The days-to-cover rank is in the 100th percentile, reflecting how quickly the current short position could be unwound relative to typical trading volume.
The ORTEX short score is 55.98, down slightly from 57.55 at the start of October, consistent with the drop in shares short.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open ABEV on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
