Hut 8 Shorts Rebuild as Analysts Cut Targets Across the Board

HUT is a bitcoin miner turned compute-infrastructure company facing a sharp post-earnings reset, with short sellers adding to already-elevated positions and every analyst who published a note this week cutting their price target.

Short interest climbed to 18.6% of the free float as of November 10, the highest level in at least a year. The 11% single-day jump reported Tuesday brought the week-on-week increase to 12.4% and the month-on-month gain to 19.5%, a weekly move that sits roughly 2.1 standard deviations above HUT's typical weekly change. That is an acceleration, not a drift. The ORTEX short score of 56.4 reflects an established bearish position building further, up from 54.9 a week ago. The lending market is not adding any friction for the shorts: availability has actually loosened sharply, rising from around 365% a week ago to 560% today, well above the 52-week low of 275%. Borrowing costs ticked up 58% over the week to 0.54%, but remain low in absolute terms. There is no squeeze mechanism in place here.

The analyst community delivered a coordinated message after the Q3 earnings print on November 4: every firm maintained a positive rating and every firm lowered its target. Morgan Stanley cut from $275 to $184. StoneX moved from $195 to $165. Wells Fargo trimmed from $175 to $148. Jefferies, the most recent change filed on November 10, lowered to $81 from $90. The mean price target across all covering analysts is $128, which against a current price of $56.77 implies the Street sees substantial room to recover, but that gap has been compressing rapidly as targets come down. The bear case is straightforward: Q3 revenue of $71.1M fell 15% year-on-year and missed expectations, revenue per bitcoin mined dropped to roughly $71,000 from $114,000 a year earlier, and the apparent earnings strength of $189.5M net income was dominated by $413.8M of mostly unrealised digital asset gains. Cash G&A of $34.8M and stock-based compensation of $64.7M show the cost base has not shrunk to match lower revenue. The bull case rests on a larger infrastructure story: a contracted power pipeline approaching 3.2 GW, a $1.07B undrawn revolver, no recourse debt at the parent level, and roughly $250M in buybacks signalling management's confidence in the balance sheet.

One notable item from the 13D/G register: Michael Ho filed a Schedule 13D/A on September 30 on a 5.13% stake, the activist flag is live on HUT's register. The 13D designation, as opposed to a passive 13G, signals an intent to influence the company. Per ORTEX's disclosure, the position is as last reported and holders crossing below the 5% threshold have no obligation to file again. BlackRock also added 845,000 shares in the period to October 30, lifting its holding to 7.9% of shares. Insider flow has been in the other direction: the CFO sold shares in August and a director sold $2M worth in September, with the 90-day net insider position running at negative 26,445 shares worth roughly $2.5M.

The post-earnings price reaction is what has dramatically shifted the picture from last week's note. At the November 4 close the stock fell 27.9%, wiping out the 15.9% single-day surge that had led the previous note. The stock is now down 11% over the past week and 33% over the past month. That compares with a mixed peer group: RIOT is up 29% over the week, MARA up 2.5%, and WULF essentially flat, while CIFR, CLSK, and IREN are each down roughly 19% to 20%, a cohort performance that suggests sector-wide pressure but HUT's post-earnings drop is at the severe end. Options positioning has shifted to the more cautious end: the put/call ratio of 0.44 is 1.6 standard deviations above its 20-day mean, the highest reading in several weeks, though still far below the 52-week peak of 0.79.

The setup heading into the next reporting date, currently flagged for February 25, 2027, is 18.6% short interest, a loosening borrow market that removes the cover-trigger, and a Street that remains constructive in direction but is steadily narrowing its targets toward the current price.