Silvercorp Metals heads into its May 21 earnings with the stock down sharply on the week and short sellers adding exposure — even as the rest of the lending market stays relaxed.
The week's move is the standout. SVM fell 8.4% over the past five sessions to C$15.69, with a further 2.9% drop on Wednesday alone. That's a meaningful retreat from the 10.3% gain logged over the prior month, and it wasn't an isolated move — the entire silver peer group pulled back hard. Close peer DSV lost nearly 18% on the week, WPM dropped 13.7%, and MUX shed almost 15%. SVM's 8.4% decline looks orderly by comparison, suggesting the stock held up relatively well in a broad sector flush.
Short positioning has been quietly building, though it remains far from alarming. Short interest climbed roughly 4% on Wednesday to reach 3.8–4.1% of the free float, and has risen about 17.6% over the past month — the clearest sign that some participants have been adding to bearish exposure as prices ran higher through April. With about 8.35 million shares short, the position is notable but not crowded; days-to-cover of 5.5 means it would take nearly a week's trading volume to unwind the entire short book. The borrow market is generous. Cost to borrow has eased to just 0.61% annually, down roughly 17% on the week and 18% over the past month — a level well below any stress threshold. Availability is relaxed too, with lend-pool utilization at 43%, barely above mid-range and well short of its 52-week peak of 72%. There is no squeeze pressure here.
The factor backdrop provides a sharp contrast with the subdued short-side picture. EPS momentum ranks in the 96th percentile on both 30- and 90-day windows, and forward EPS growth year-on-year comes in at the 93rd percentile — the company has been beating and revising higher with notable consistency. The P/E multiple has compressed by more than 4 points over the past month to 7.7x, while EV/EBITDA has dropped roughly 3.5 turns to 5.2x. Both moves reflect the recent price correction unwinding some of the premium that had built during the April rally, rather than any deterioration in underlying estimates. The ORTEX short score of 47.9 sits near the middle of its range, consistent with a stock where positioning is present but not extreme in either direction. Analyst data in the snapshot is too stale to quote reliably.
Institutional flows add texture. BlackRock added more than 3.6 million shares in the latest filing, Mirae Asset built by over 1 million, and Van Eck — a specialist precious-metals manager — added 1.6 million. Arrowstreet Capital registered the largest single addition at 6.5 million shares. CEO and founder Rui Feng holds approximately 3.1% of the company, a stable anchor that has ticked marginally higher. On the sell side, the only meaningful activity has come from independent directors disposing of small award tranches — routine compensation-related selling rather than a signal of concern.
Q1 results are due May 21. The setup into that date is one where the fundamental momentum score is strong, the borrow market is unstressed, and institutional buyers have been active — but the stock has just given back a month of outperformance alongside the sector, and short sellers have chosen this dip to add rather than reduce. Whether the earnings print can re-engage that institutional buying appetite is the question most worth watching.
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