LeMaitre Vascular heads into the post-earnings stretch with short sellers rebuilding positions and options traders running their most defensively positioned in a year — a notable combination for a stock that just topped Q1 estimates.
The defining signal this week is in options. Put/call positioning has reached the most bearish extreme in the past twelve months, with the PCR hitting 2.91 — a 52-week high — against a 20-day average of 2.41. That's roughly 1.2 standard deviations above recent norms, and the climb has been relentless: the PCR was sitting closer to 1.1 back in late March. The move points to heavier demand for downside protection, built up steadily through April and now peaking just as Q1 results landed.
Short interest reinforces the cautious tone, though the borrow market is far from stretched. SI has climbed 14% over the past month to 6.5% of the free float — up from around 5.7% in late March — marking a meaningful rebuild from what looked like a quieter positioning phase. The week-over-week gain of roughly 0.6% suggests the trend is still active, not fading. Yet the cost to borrow tells a contrasting story: at 0.38%, it has actually eased 17% on the week and is near its lowest level of the past six weeks, while availability remains ample. Bears are adding exposure, but they face no lending squeeze — the borrow market is comfortable, and there is nothing here to force a cover.
Two analysts moved targets this morning in response to Q1 results, and the direction split neatly along existing lines. Citizens — already carrying an Outperform rating — raised its target from $118 to $127, above the current price of $112. Wells Fargo held its Equal-Weight stance and lifted its target from $94 to $104, still below the tape. That divergence captures the broader Street setup: the bulls see upside through product expansion and acquisitions; the bears flag international revenue concentration and exposure to macro headwinds. The mean price target across the panel is $118, implying modest upside from current levels. The PE multiple runs at 37.3x, which is not cheap but has expanded only modestly over the past month (+0.7 turns). The EPS 90-day momentum factor scores in the 81st percentile — one of the stronger readings in the dataset — while dividend score ranks in the 93rd, reflecting a consistent payout history.
On the ownership side, the most noteworthy development predates this week but remains recent enough to flag. Founder and CEO George LeMaitre sold nearly 56,000 shares in early March for roughly $6 million. The President and an SVP also sold across late February and early March, bringing the 90-day net insider outflow to around $24 million across the leadership group. These look like scheduled sales at elevated prices rather than a structural change of view, but the volume is large relative to company size and coincided with the stock trading near its highs. Institutional flow is broadly constructive: Goldman Sachs Asset Management added 212,000 shares in Q1, Conestoga Capital and Congress Asset Management each added around 100,000, and Geode added just over 105,000. BlackRock and Vanguard, the two largest holders at 13.7% and 7.1% respectively, both added modestly.
The one prior earnings reaction in the history is a clean data point: after the Q4 2025 print in February, the stock fell 5.5% on the day and held the loss over the following week. Q1 results beat EPS estimates by $0.02, and analysts are nudging targets higher — but the combination of a PCR at its annual high and shorts still in a month-long building phase means the positioning heading into the market's post-earnings verdict is more charged than relaxed. The next session's open will show whether the beat is enough to absorb that overhead.
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