LifeMD enters its May 18 earnings event carrying one of the most charged setups in the telehealth space — a stock that has nearly doubled off its lows while short interest has risen alongside it, creating a direct tug-of-war between momentum buyers and a deeply committed short base.
The price action alone demands attention. LFMD closed at $5.13 on Tuesday, up 13% on the week and 46% over the past month. The move follows last quarter's stunning earnings print: the stock jumped 30% on the day and 42% over the following five trading sessions after the March 10 result. A repeat of that reaction, against a substantially higher short base, would set up acute squeeze pressure.
Short interest is elevated and still building — that is the central tension here. At approximately 18% of free float (using ORTEX estimates), short interest has climbed from roughly 15% at the end of March to current levels, a move of nearly three full percentage points in five weeks. The ORTEX short score is 74.6 out of 100, near the top of the range it has occupied all month. Borrow availability has tightened meaningfully alongside the rally — availability has drifted toward 30% of short interest, well below the levels that indicate a loose lending market. Cost to borrow has climbed 25% week-on-week to around 0.85%, a 30-day high, though in absolute terms it remains low enough that carrying a short position is not yet punitive. The picture is one of mounting conviction on the short side, not panic — shorts are adding, not fleeing, even as the stock runs.
Options traders show no sign of alarm. The put/call ratio is 0.15, barely above its 20-day average and close to the lowest readings of the past year. The 52-week high for the PCR was 0.84; the current print is a fraction of that. Call open interest dominates the options market, suggesting retail and momentum-driven positioning rather than hedged institutional caution. That divergence is worth watching: the short book is growing, but options participants are still leaning bullish.
The Street is broadly onside. All seven analyst ratings tracked are Buy-equivalent, and BTIG reiterated its Buy with a $10 target as recently as May 4 — two days ago. Mizuho upgraded to Outperform in March after the earnings pop. Taken together, the analyst community's $10 price target represents nearly 95% upside to the current price, a gap that reflects either scepticism about near-term execution or an opportunity not yet closed. The PE multiple has re-rated sharply — up roughly 4.7 turns over the past month — as the stock has run, though EV/EBITDA at 10.7x remains modest for a growth-oriented telehealth name. LFMD's EPS surprise factor ranks in the 97th percentile of its universe, reflecting a consistent track record of beating estimates that underpins the bull case. The primary debate is whether the company's cash-pay model and direct-to-consumer focus in weight management and men's health can sustain the momentum demonstrated in Q4.
Closest peer TDOC gained 11% on the week, while GDRX added 10% — broad sector tailwinds are helping LFMD, not unique to it. BlackRock and Vanguard both added shares in the most recent filings, while Renaissance Technologies trimmed modestly. Federated Hermes built a near-1M share position in the most recent data, the largest new institutional move in the holder list.
What to watch: whether the short base — now at a five-week high despite a 46% price rally — begins to cover ahead of the May 18 event, or holds firm into a result that has already delivered two successive 30%-plus post-print reactions.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open LFMD on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
