First Bancorp reports today with short interest up 13% over the past month. Options traders show extreme bullish positioning ahead of the print.
Short interest stands at 4.58% of free float as of April 22.
That's up 12.8% over the past 30 days. The position climbed from 1.66 million shares in mid-March to 1.90 million currently.
Cost to borrow remains low at 0.48%, up 15% in the past month. Utilization sits at 16.64%, below the 52-week high of 18.24% reached in mid-March.
Days to cover is 7.64 based on recent exchange data.
The put/call ratio collapsed to 0.0123 on April 23.
That's significantly below the 20-day average of 0.0447. The Z-score of -2.39 signals extreme call dominance.
Traders are positioning heavily for upside ahead of the print. The ratio has stayed below 0.05 for most of April after ranging between 0.05 and 0.08 in March.
No analyst coverage data is available for FBNC.
First Bancorp last reported on January 21, 2026.
Prior to that, the company reported on October 22, 2025. Historical reaction data for those prints is not available in the snapshot.
The stock has gained 9.9% over the past month and is up 3.0% in the last session. The close at $59.55 reflects recent momentum heading into today's call.
No active ORTEX Alpha signals are present for FBNC.
The ORTEX short score sits at 51.87 as of April 22, indicating moderate short interest relative to the broader market. The combined score of 51.80 suggests balanced risk/reward dynamics.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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