NCL Shorts Retreat While Borrow Costs Ease

Short sellers reduced positions in NCL by 36% over the past week, pulling back from elevated April levels. Cost to borrow fell 9% over the month despite a 7% weekly uptick. The stock closed at $0.15, down 9% over the week but up 5% for the month.

Price action & positioning

NCL closed at $0.15 on April 24, up 6% on the day. The stock fell 9% over the week but gained 5% over the past month. Price remains volatile in the sub-$0.20 range.

Short interest & lending

Short interest fell sharply to 209,000 shares (0.92% of float) as of April 23. The 36% weekly decline reversed a mid-April spike. On April 14, short interest peaked at 349,000 shares—the highest in the past month. That level matched the early April surge. Short sellers have since retreated to levels last seen in mid-March.

Official FINRA data from April 15 settlement shows 281,654 shares short, with days to cover at just 1.0.

Cost to borrow stands at 18.4%, up 7% over the week. The monthly trend is downward—CTB fell 9% from the 22–23% range prevalent through early April. The April 7 peak of 22.6% marked a 30-day high. Current borrow costs sit near the April 16 low of 17.2%.

Utilisation dropped to 5.86% from 7.95% a day prior. The metric peaked at 26.6% on April 9 and hit 24.3% on April 14. Utilisation reached the 52-week high of 100% earlier in the year. Current levels reflect ample shares available to borrow.

Valuation & factor positioning

Enterprise value stands at $13.9M as of December 31, 2025. No recent valuation multiples are available.

ORTEX factor scores show dividend score at the 24th percentile. Short score ranks at the 37th percentile. Sector positioning hits the 70th percentile. Days to cover ranks 60th percentile, utilisation 47th.

Institutional positioning

Lin Li holds the largest disclosed stake at 1.8M shares (3.4% of shares outstanding), unchanged since June 2025. Lizaqueen Acquisition Inc., Wenjue Wang, Ye Mo, Gageone LLC, and Oneflow LLC each hold 1M shares (1.9%), all unchanged since September 2025. All top holders maintained positions with zero change in the latest reports.

Institutional data is stale by 211 days as of September 26, 2025.

Insider activity

Director Jing Zhang sold 63,740 shares at $0.147 on September 11, 2025, for $9,370. This represents the only insider trade in the 90-day window. Net insider activity shows 63,740 shares sold for $9,370 over that period.

Insider data is stale by 226 days.

What to watch

The stock posted earnings events on April 17 and April 14, 2026. No upcoming earnings date is scheduled. Watch for updates on institutional filings—current holder data lags by seven months. Monitor whether short interest stabilises near current levels or reverts to the mid-April peak.