Curtiss-Wright Shorts Jump 21% in a Week Before Wednesday Print

Short sellers have added to their positions in CW at an unusually fast pace, with shares short climbing 21% over the past week to around 967,000, the highest level recorded in at least a year. That puts short interest at 2.6% of the free float, still modest in absolute terms but rising at roughly 1.8 standard deviations above the stock's typical weekly move. The borrow market remains effectively unconstrained: availability is at 9,347%, meaning lenders have far more stock on offer than is currently being borrowed, and the cost to borrow has drifted lower over the week to 0.33%. The surge in short positions is therefore a matter of conviction, not a crowded trade where squeezes can accelerate moves. The stock closed at $476.01 on Friday, down 4.2% on the day and 10.8% over the past month, underperforming the median weekly gain of 4.4% posted by its closest peers including HWM, GE and SARO.

The analyst community has moved in one direction recently: down. Morgan Stanley lowered its target from $860 to $625 on October 19 while keeping an Overweight rating. Piper Sandler followed on October 23 with a cut from $665 to $586, staying Neutral. Citi trimmed from $793 to $622 in early October. The consensus mean target, at $681, still implies substantial upside from the current price, but the direction of travel from the Street reflects unease about near-term delivery. Bears point to order delays in the Defense Electronics segment, including $50 million in orders pushed out of Q3 2025, and revenue recognition under percentage-of-completion accounting that can compress depending on programme timing. Bulls counter with a strong free cash flow record, a 137% conversion rate on the most recent figures, and the Defence Electronics segment still growing at a double-digit pace.

Options positioning tells a different story from the short interest build. The put/call ratio has dropped sharply to 0.66, nearly two standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.94, and the closest it has been to the 52-week low of 0.25. That is a distinctly call-heavy posture, suggesting options traders are tilting toward upside participation rather than protection ahead of Wednesday's release. The divergence between rising short interest and falling put/call ratio means the two positioning signals are pointing in opposite directions, with shorts building through the stock market while derivatives traders add calls.

Wednesday's print will test whether the order delays flagged in recent quarters have cleared, and whether management's full-year revenue growth guidance of 10 to 11% remains intact after a month in which the stock has lost more ground than its peers.