Gold.com delivered a blowout Q3 print Wednesday, with EPS of $2.09 crushing the $1.19 consensus and revenue of $10.35 billion more than doubling the $4.81 billion estimate. The beat arrived with short interest at its highest level in months — a setup that may amplify the price reaction.
Short sellers have been piling in throughout April. Short interest climbed 31% over the past month to reach 11.4% of the free float, with shorts adding about 2.4% on the week heading into the report. That build happened even as the stock gained 4.4% over the month, meaning short sellers were actively fading the rally. At 57.4, the ORTEX short score has been drifting higher for two weeks, consistent with growing bearish conviction entering the print. Yet the borrow market tells a more relaxed story: availability remains loose, with cost to borrow running at just 0.54% APR — barely changed from prior weeks. Short sellers have been adding at low cost, not under pressure.
Options positioning has gradually tilted more cautious. The put/call ratio edged up to 0.31 through this week, above its 20-day average of 0.29 and sitting at a 0.82 standard deviation above the mean — modestly elevated but well below the 52-week high of 0.78. Calls still dominate the options market, reflecting a fundamentally bullish sentiment baseline even as traders picked up a few more puts into the event. That is broadly consistent with DA Davidson's stance: Michael Baker maintained a Buy rating and $60 target as recently as April 28, keeping faith with the bull thesis centred on rising precious metals demand, expanding spreads, and the credibility lent by Tether's $150 million investment in the company.
Bears have pointed to the inherent cyclicality of precious metals distribution — a warning the historical record backs up, given the company's uneven earnings track record between 2013 and 2021. The last reported quarter (February 2026) also saw a 27% one-day gain after the print, meaning the bar for a repeat surprise was high. Insider activity adds a note of caution: the Chairman of the Board sold shares repeatedly in February and March at prices ranging from $53 to $57, well above the current $43.10 level, alongside selling by a 10% owner through March. That cluster of insider disposals at materially higher prices is a data point the bear case does not need to explain away.
The Q3 report — with revenue more than doubling analyst expectations — is now the stress test for those short positions built up through April: whether the covering pressure matches the scale of the beat, or whether bears argue the bar was simply set too low.
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