Bristow Group Shorts Climb to One-Year High Before Quarterly Results

Bristow Group, a helicopter and aviation services company serving offshore oil and gas operators, reports quarterly earnings on November 4 with short sellers building their largest position in at least a year.

Short interest has climbed 18% over the past month to 4.9% of the free float, with the pace of additions accelerating. The past week alone saw an 11.5% increase in shares short, bringing the total to roughly 1.41 million shares. Despite that build, borrowing remains straightforward: cost to borrow has fallen to 0.38%, down nearly 30% on the week, and availability is generous at over 1,000% of shares short, meaning the lending pool holds roughly ten times more shares than are currently borrowed. The short position is growing by conviction, not by squeeze mechanics.

What makes the setup more pointed is that Bristow has held up better than most of its closest peers over the past week. The stock slipped less than 1% while correlated names took sharper hits: XPRO dropped 24% and TDW fell nearly 10% over the same period. That relative resilience has not stopped the ORTEX short score from drifting higher, reaching 45.9 from around 42.5 two weeks ago, a move that reflects the gathering short interest rather than any deterioration in price momentum.

Two activists remain on the register, a fact that adds an unusual layer to the institutional picture. South Dakota Investment Council filed a Schedule 13D amendment in April, disclosing a stake of 6.2%, down from 7.3% previously. Solus Alternative Asset Management holds 9.6% under a separate 13D, also trimmed from 10.7%, and its recent insider filings show it has been selling small parcels of stock through September at prices around $43 to $46, well above where the shares trade today at $40.64. Director Lorin Brass also sold shares in September. Net insider activity over the past 90 days amounts to disposals of roughly $2.6 million. As always with 13D disclosures, positions are as last filed and holders can drop below 5% without a further announcement.

The valuation picture offers some context for why the stock still carries a constructive analyst tone despite the selling. The forward earnings yield ranks in the 69th percentile of the broader universe, and the PE of 7.5 and EV/EBITDA of 5.3 place Bristow at a modest multiple relative to energy services peers. Analyst data from earlier in 2026 showed Evercore ISI raising its target to $56 and Raymond James initiating at $60, though that consensus was struck before the August earnings release when the stock fell 5.7% on the day, and the most recent available mean price target of $64 predates that move. The forward earnings growth score ranks in the 83rd percentile, suggesting analysts still model a meaningful improvement in profitability, but the gap between those targets and the current $40.64 share price reflects how much ground has been lost since those notes were written.

The print will test whether the company's operational numbers can close the gap between a discounted valuation and the structural growth narrative that bullish analysts have been pricing in since the start of the year.