Bears Pile In: AI, EVs, Pharma Lead Short Surge

Short sellers stepped up bets across several US names last week. Data from ORTEX dated 26 October shows the biggest moves coming in biotech, AI infrastructure and electric vehicles.

Liquidia Corporation saw the sharpest jump. Its SI % of Free Float rose 8 percentage points in seven days to 26.7%. Grindr followed with a 7-point rise to 20.4% of FF.

CoreWeave, the AI cloud provider that has attracted heavy social media attention, now sits at 26.4% SI of FF. That is up 4.2 points on the week. Bears appear unconvinced by the AI infrastructure boom story despite the company's rapid revenue growth.

Lucid Group remains one of the most-shorted names in the market. SI stands at 65.5% of FF. The cost to borrow is 18.3% APR. Only 1.6% of short interest has shares available to borrow, a sign that the short trade is extremely crowded.

Cerebras Systems, another AI chip name, added 4.6 points to reach 20.1% of FF. Chip stocks drew mixed sentiment this week. CNBC reported that an S&P 500 rebound was led by chips after an earlier sell-off.

EverCommerce carries the highest ORTEX short score at 96. Its cost to borrow stands at 93.2% APR, one of the steepest on the market.

Levi Strauss was a notable consumer mover. SI climbed nearly 4 points to 13.2% of FF in one week, suggesting fresh scepticism ahead of its next earnings update.