Short interest in Zimmer Biomet has jumped 35% over the past month to 5.2% of the float ahead of Monday's earnings print. Analysts remain divided with 17 hold ratings and no clear consensus target, while options traders show modest bearish positioning.
Short interest reached 10.34 million shares as of April 23, representing 5.22% of the float. That's up 0.4% from the prior day and 2.8% over the past week. The 35% monthly surge marks a material shift in bearish sentiment. Days to cover stands at 5.07 based on recent volume. Cost to borrow remains subdued at 0.44%, down slightly over the week. Utilisation has risen to 16.3%, still well below the 52-week high of 21%.
The put/call ratio sits at 0.71, below the 20-day mean of 0.75. That translates to a z-score of -0.95, indicating mild bullish skew relative to recent norms. The ratio is near the lower end of its 52-week range of 0.10 to 2.29. Options positioning suggests traders are not aggressively hedging downside risk into the print.
Analyst coverage shows 17 hold ratings with no consensus target or return potential available. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on April 13 with a Market Perform rating and $101 price target. BTIG downgraded to Neutral from Buy on March 23, removing its prior positive stance. Post-Q4, Barclays lowered its target to $100 from $104 while maintaining Underweight. Citigroup and Wells Fargo both raised targets modestly to $98 in February, keeping Neutral and Equal-Weight ratings respectively. BTIG's Ryan Zimmerman had reiterated Buy at $112 prior to the downgrade.
Benzinga's bear case notes the company has seen declining organic revenue growth for eight straight quarters, with the Paragon 28 acquisition underperforming and operating margin falling 170 basis points year-over-year.
The stock trades at 10.8x trailing earnings, up 0.5 points over the past month. Price-to-book stands at 1.44, up 13% in 30 days. EV/EBITDA of 9.16 has compressed slightly. ZBH ranks in the 83rd percentile on 12-month forward EPS growth and the 94th percentile on analyst recommendation divergence. Momentum and quality machine learning scores are unavailable. The company scores in the 48th percentile on 90-day EPS momentum.
Insiders sold a net $3.5 million worth of shares over the past 90 days. Recent activity includes routine equity award grants and associated tax sales by executives. Vanguard holds 12.1% and added 192,517 shares as of March 31. BlackRock owns 8.1%, up 44,735 shares. Franklin Resources increased its stake by 2 million shares to 3.4%.
ZBH last reported earnings on February 10. The stock has fallen 1.3% in the past day and 3.7% over the week, but is up 5.7% over the month.
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