EPD Bears Retreat Ahead of Tuesday Print

Short interest drops 11.5% over 30 days as cost to borrow climbs. Options skew turns defensive — PCR hits 52-week high.

Short interest positioning

Short interest stands at 18.8M shares as of April 23, just 0.87% of free float. Shares shorted fell 11.5% over the past month and ticked down 0.07% week-over-week. Days to cover sits at 3.79 based on FINRA data. Cost to borrow rose 35.8% month-over-month to 0.52%, while utilization jumped to 16.23% from 13.56% a week earlier. The modest short interest reflects minimal bearish conviction heading into the print.

Options market

Put-call ratio surged to 0.246 on April 24, running 2.5 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.228. This marks the highest PCR reading in the past year, surpassing the 52-week high of 0.404 set earlier in the cycle. The skew suggests traders are adding downside protection or hedging long positions into earnings.

Analyst activity

Analyst coverage shows a split stance with no clear consensus rating available. The average price target stands at $40.05, offering 5.4% upside from the current $38 level. Recent activity leans positive: Wells Fargo upgraded to Overweight with a $42 target on March 25. RBC Capital raised its Outperform target to $42 on March 30. Jefferies and TD Cowen both lifted targets to $40 and $38 respectively while maintaining Hold ratings. Truist initiated at Hold with a $36 target on March 24. Morgan Stanley held Underweight but raised to $38.

Valuation & factor positioning

P/E of 12.85 compressed 0.66 points over the past month. EV/EBITDA sits at 10.86, down 0.18 from 30 days prior. Price-to-book of 2.60 fell 0.10 over the same period. EPD ranks in the 91st percentile for forward EPS growth, the 47th percentile for 30-day EPS momentum, and the 65th percentile for earnings surprise. Quality and value factor scores are unavailable.

Insider & institutional context

Insiders bought $3.5M net over the past 90 days, led by Co-CEO A. James Teague's $100K purchase on March 20. Enterprise Products Company holds 31.4% of shares, stable at 679M units. ALPS Advisors added 822K shares in Q1 to reach 42.7M units (1.97%). Energy Income Partners lifted its stake by 185K shares to 14.9M.

Historical context

EPD last reported on February 3 and 4, 2026. Prior earnings events cluster in early February historically. The stock rose 3.6% in the week leading up to Tuesday's call and is up 0.4% in the latest session, closing at $38.

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