Comstock Posts Biggest Short Interest Surge in a Month

Short sellers returned to LODE this week, pushing SI % FF to 4.77% — the highest level in 30 days. Options traders turned defensive with PCR hitting a 52-week high. Earnings scheduled for April 30.

Price action & positioning

LODE closed at $3.25 on April 24, down 0.31% on the day. The stock gained 3.83% over the week and has climbed 16.91% over the past month. The recent advance marks a sharp reversal from the sub-$3 levels seen in mid-March.

Short interest & lending

Short interest stood at 2.45 million shares as of April 23, representing 4.77% of the free float. SI % FF surged 44.26% over the past month — the highest reading since late March. Week-over-week, shares short climbed 3.28%. The 30-day history shows two distinct phases: SI hovered around 1.7 million shares through late March, then jumped above 2.1 million in early April and has held that elevated range. The most recent data marks a fresh 30-day peak.

Cost to borrow dropped to 0.35% APR from 0.70% a week earlier — a 24% decline. CTB has been volatile, swinging between 0.35% and 0.79% over the past month. Utilisation sat at 21.78%, well below the 52-week high of 86.41%. Utilisation spiked to 23.44% on April 6 before pulling back mid-month to the low teens, then bounced back above 20% this week.

Options flow

The put/call ratio hit 1.81 on April 24 — a new 52-week high and an extreme departure from recent norms. The 20-day mean PCR is 1.11 with a standard deviation of 0.22. The current reading sits 3.15 standard deviations above the mean. PCR spent most of March below parity, ranging between 0.90 and 1.02. Starting mid-April, PCR began climbing, crossing 1.10 on April 17 and accelerating to 1.49 by April 21. Thursday's 1.81 print marks the heaviest put skew in at least a year.

Analyst consensus

Consensus is Hold with two Hold ratings and no Buys or Sells. The analyst coverage is stale by 122 days as of December 24, 2025. Noble Capital Markets downgraded LODE to Market Perform from Outperform on December 24. Four months earlier, Ladenburg Thalmann's Michael Legg cut the stock to Neutral from Buy and slashed the target from $12 to $4. The same firm had initiated coverage at Buy with a $12 target in late July. No current price target or return potential is available.

Valuation & factor positioning

Enterprise value stood at $200.05 million as of December 31, 2025. Valuation multiples lack recent updates. Factor scores show an 88th percentile rank for EPS surprise. Analyst recommendation differential sits at the 50th percentile. The dividend score is in the 26th percentile. Short score ranks in the 28th percentile, sector score in the 21st, DTC in the 40th, and utilisation in the 24th. Momentum, quality, and value ML scores are unavailable.

Institutional positioning

MAK Capital One took a new 5.76 million share position worth 7.45% of the company as of March 23. Vanguard added 580,605 shares in Q1, lifting its stake to 2.42 million shares, or 3.13% of the company. Hood River Capital raised its position by 118,739 shares to 1.82 million. Gratia Capital added 199,000 shares to reach 1.16 million. Citadel trimmed 163,074 shares, leaving 804,127. Flax Pond Capital initiated a 694,025-share position. Marshall Wace built a 669,494-share stake after adding 652,376 shares. Diametric Capital lifted its holdings by 484,762 shares to 631,525.

Insider activity

Insiders bought $95,396 worth of stock over the past 90 days, purchasing 31,700 net shares. Independent Director Leo Drozdoff bought 28,000 shares at $3.00 on March 30, a $84,000 transaction. CFO Judd Merrill purchased 3,700 shares at $3.08 the same day, worth $11,396. Earlier, Drozdoff bought 200,000 shares at $0.146 in August 2024. The Chairman and CEO acquired 1.25 million shares at $0.40 in May 2024, a $500,000 purchase.

What to watch

Comstock is scheduled to report earnings on April 30 at 1:30 PM Eastern. The company last reported on March 24. With short interest at a 30-day high, put skew at a 52-week extreme, and fresh insider buying, the upcoming print will test whether the recent rally can hold.