Short sellers raised stakes in HCA entering today's earnings report. Options activity stayed neutral after a month-long defensive tilt.
Short interest hit 1.75% of float as of April 22, up 5.3% over the past week. Shares shorted climbed to 4.0 million from 3.9 million a week prior. Days to cover stands at 3.2. The build marks a reversal after relative stability through late March. Cost to borrow remains benign at 0.39%, down 25% week-over-week. Utilisation ticked up to 5.45%, well below the 52-week peak of 10.97%. Shorts are testing the name, but borrowing remains cheap and plentiful.
Put-call ratio printed 0.98 on April 23, slightly elevated versus the 20-day mean of 0.95. The ratio climbed from sub-0.88 levels in mid-April. March saw sustained defensive posturing with PCR above parity through most of the month, peaking at 1.05 on March 23. Recent sentiment has cooled but not turned aggressively bullish. Options traders are positioned for modest volatility, not a blowout move.
No analyst data available in the snapshot.
HCA shares closed at $474.03 on April 23, down 1.9% over the past week and off 4.2% over the trailing month. The stock edged up 0.6% on April 23. Prior earnings dates logged in the data include January 27, 2026. No reaction data for past prints is included in the snapshot.
No active ORTEX Alpha signals. The ORTEX short score sits at 36.2 as of April 22, reflecting modest short-side interest relative to the broader universe. The combined score, which blends short and other factors, stands at 36.1.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open HCA on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
