Enbridge Shorts Retreat as Price Climbs Into Q3 Results

Enbridge reports Q3 results on November 2, arriving at the print with short sellers having cut their exposure sharply over the past month.

Short interest in the Canadian pipeline giant has fallen roughly 24% over the past 30 days to about 29.9 million shares, now representing just 1.4% of the free float. That is a low level for a company of this size, and the direction of travel is unambiguous: shorts had held around 39 million shares through late September before stepping back in two distinct moves, first to 31.6 million in early October, then to the current level from October 20. The borrow market reflects the same relaxed tone. Availability remains extremely loose at 841%, meaning there are roughly eight shares still available to borrow for every one already lent out. Cost to borrow is 0.69%, essentially negligible for a large-cap infrastructure name, and well within the range it has held for the past several weeks, aside from a brief spike to 7.6% on October 12 that has fully reversed.

The shares themselves have been quietly gaining ground. Enbridge closed at CAD 69.11, up 2.6% on the week, fractionally ahead of the 1.3% median weekly gain across its closest Canadian midstream peers including TRP and PPL, which rose 3.3% and 1.8% respectively. The advance puts the stock 4.4% higher over the past month. Analysts carried a mean price target of CAD 78.25 as of late October, implying roughly 13% upside from the current level. The valuation picture has been moving in the same direction: the P/E multiple has expanded by about 1.1 points over 30 days to 22x, and EV/EBITDA has edged up to 12.2x, though a note from ORTEX's research team earlier this month flagged that EPS forecasts for 2025 and 2026 were revised down, with debt-to-EBITDA still running above the company's own 4.5 to 5.0x target. That tension between rising valuation multiples and downward earnings revisions is the central question the print will resolve.

The most recent comparable quarter, reported July 31, saw the shares fall 3.3% on the day and lose nearly 8% over the following five trading sessions. That reaction came despite Enbridge's reputation as a fee-based infrastructure business largely insulated from commodity price swings. The November 2 report will test whether the earnings trajectory has stabilised enough to support the multiple expansion of the past month, or whether the debt and depreciation pressures flagged in recent forecasts weigh on the headline figures again.