RELX Shorts Build Ahead of Thursday Earnings

Earnings are two days away. Short sellers are not waiting.

RELX reports on May 6. In the week to May 4, short interest jumped 16.3% to 4.47 million shares. Over the past month, that's a 30% build. The positioning is unambiguous — bears are loading up ahead of the print.

Options Market Flashes a Warning

The put-call ratio hit 1.40 on April 30. That's 3.9 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.68 — a 52-week high for the ratio. It has since pulled back to 0.70, but the spike left a mark. Options traders are hedging heavily into the event.

The most recent read (May 4) sits at 0.70, in line with recent norms. The April 30 spike looks like a one-day rush to buy downside protection rather than sustained pessimism. Still, two separate options pulse triggers in four days tells a consistent story.

Borrow Costs Climb

The cost to borrow RELX shares stands at 0.80% annually as of May 4. That's up 82% over the past week from earlier lows, and up 14% over the past month.

Borrow availability has tightened alongside the short build. The lending pool is at its tightest reading in the past 52 weeks. More shares are being borrowed as demand from short sellers rises, leaving less room in the pool. This isn't a hard squeeze — at 0.80% the borrow is still cheap in absolute terms — but the directional move is clear.

The ORTEX short score has climbed from 38.9 on April 20 to 45.4 by May 1. That's a 17-point move in under two weeks, driven by the combination of rising short interest, tighter availability, and elevated options hedging.

Earnings History Sets the Stakes

RELX's last earnings event (February 2026) delivered a 12% one-day move. The print before that also moved the stock more than 5%. Bears building into Thursday know what's on the table if the result disappoints.

Citigroup upgraded RELX to Buy in early April, the most recent significant analyst move. That upgrade now sits against a short interest build that accelerated sharply after it. The bulls have a prominent endorsement; the bears have been adding shares.

What to Watch

• Earnings date: May 6, pre-market (07:00 UTC)
• Short interest: 4.47M shares, +16.3% in one week, +30% in one month
• Put-call ratio: Spiked to 1.40 (52-week high) on April 30; now 0.70
• Cost to borrow: 0.80% — up 82% week-on-week from recent lows
• ORTEX short score: 45.4, up from 38.9 two weeks ago — at a 52-week high
• Borrow availability: At tightest level in past 52 weeks
• Last earnings move: +12% on the day (February 2026)