FIGS Shorts Surge as Analysts Lift Targets

FIGS, Inc. is drawing a sharply divided response this week: short sellers are piling in at a rate well above the stock's historical norm, while analysts are simultaneously raising their price targets and the shares have risen 5.5% over the past week.

Short interest is the most striking feature of the current setup. At 12.5% of free float, it is already elevated for a consumer apparel name, and the week-on-week jump of nearly 19% in shares short is roughly two-and-a-half standard deviations above the typical weekly move over the past year. That acceleration came in a single sharp step between October 22 and October 26, when short positions rose from around 16.3 million shares to over 19.3 million. The ORTEX short score has climbed alongside, reaching 59.8, its highest reading in the trailing ten-day window, placing FIGS in the more-shorted half of the market on a relative basis. Among the closest available peer group, FIGS carries more short-side pressure than the apparel names correlating with it from Seoul, São Paulo and Tokyo, most of which posted weekly declines of 24% to 27%, a sharp contrast with FIGS's 5.5% gain.

The borrow market tells a calmer secondary story. Availability remains wide at 501%, meaning roughly five shares are available to lend for every two already borrowed, and borrowing costs, though up 66% over the week to 0.51%, are still low in absolute terms. That combination matters: rising short interest with loose availability and cheap borrow suggests new shorts are entering a liquid, uncrowded lending pool rather than chasing a tight squeeze setup. The cost-to-borrow spike is worth tracking but does not yet point to stress in the funding market.

Options traders have turned more cautious over the same period. The put/call ratio has moved to 0.88, above its 20-day average of 0.70, and has held in a narrow band between 0.87 and 0.88 for the past six sessions, a steady drift toward protection rather than a single spike. The 52-week high on the PCR sits at 0.94, so the current level is elevated but not at the extreme. The configuration, rising shorts plus rising put demand, runs against the recent price strength, and that tension is what defines the week.

Analysts are pulling in the opposite direction. BTIG raised its target to $25 from $22 on October 30, maintaining a Buy, and Oppenheimer made the same move the day before, keeping its Outperform. Those two fresh upgrades sit meaningfully above the current mean target of $19.50, which itself trails the $21.31 close, though the mean is being pulled down by older, more conservative targets from Telsey Advisory and Morgan Stanley that have not been refreshed since the August results. The bull case rests on Q2 net sales growth of 28.8% to $197 million, a record 3.1 million active customers, 67% international revenue growth, and gross margin expanding to 75.2%. The bear case centres on macro and supply-chain exposure, potential commoditisation of the core scrubwear category, and a forward PE near 57x that leaves little room for disappointment.

The ownership picture adds one notable layer. ORTEX's 13D register shows two active Schedule 13D filers: Ronald Baron, whose Baron Capital Group holds approximately 38% of shares outstanding, and CEO Catherine Spear, last disclosed at 15%. Both are long-standing, concentrated holders rather than new entrants, and their presence compresses the effective free float considerably, which amplifies the percentage impact of any short interest move. The recent Form 4 filings for Spear, CFO Sarah Oughtred and Executive Chairman Heather Hasson all carry transaction code F, which is tax withholding on vesting equity, not discretionary selling. There are no open-market purchases or sales from insiders in the 90-day window, leaving the 90-day net at zero. As with all Schedule 13D/G positions, disclosed stakes are as of the most recent filing date and holders dropping below 5% are not required to update.

Wikipedia attention for FIGS is running at a z-score of 2.48 against its own trailing 90-day history, an elevated reading as of October 13, though this dataset has not been measured as a lead for the company's reported figures and is colour rather than a signal on the coming print. Results are due November 5.

The one level worth watching is whether short interest continues its step-change pace into the earnings print, or whether the 19-million-share level marks a near-term ceiling as covering begins ahead of results.