Bears Pile In: HTZ, WOLF Top the Short Charts

Short sellers are keeping their biggest bets on a cluster of distressed names this Friday. Wolfspeed leads the pack with 88.9% of its free float sold short. 1-800-Flowers sits at 74.2% and Hertz at 73.4%. Groupon and Lucid Group round out the top five at 68.3% and 66.1% respectively.

The week's biggest mover on the bearish side was Braveheart Bio. Its SI % of free float jumped 6.7 percentage points to 43.5% in just seven days. Fervo Energy added 4.1 points to reach 15.3%. Sigma Lithium climbed 3.4 points to 15.8% amid continued pressure on the battery materials sector.

Shorts are also building in consumer stocks. MGM Resorts saw SI rise 2.3 points to 14.3%. Conagra Brands added 2.2 points to 10.9%.

On the squeeze side, Sprouts Farmers Market saw shorts cover aggressively. SI dropped 3.2 points to 11.2%. Kimberly-Clark fell 2.8 points to 5.8%. Papa John's dropped 2.2 points to 19.9%.

Polestar reports next week. ORTEX alt data shows Dutch car registrations running 68% below the same quarter last year, based on a dataset measured to lead Polestar revenue by 60 days. That reading will add fuel to the bear case heading into the print.

The ORTEX short score rankings flag EverCommerce at a score of 96.9, with SI at 14.7% of float and a cost to borrow hitting 79.9%. Lucky Strike Entertainment scores 94.9, down 43.9% over three months.