Anheuser-Busch InBev short sellers are pressing harder against a stock that just won't stop climbing. The borrow market tells the story: cost to borrow doubled in a week and availability is near its tightest level of the year.
BUD jumped 11.1% on May 5 after its earnings print. The stock is now up 12.7% over the past week and 15.1% over the past month. Rather than cover, short sellers added shares. Estimated short interest rose from around 5.27M shares in late April to 6.26M shares by May 6 — a 5.4% increase over the past month.
That build happened into a rallying stock. The result: the borrow pool is under pressure.
The lending market has moved fast. Availability has dropped to near-critical levels, with utilization at 92.5% of the borrowable pool as of May 6 — up from just 18.3% on April 21. At that pace, less than one share remains available for every thirteen already borrowed. The 52-week peak is 100%, hit as recently as April 28.
Cost to borrow reflected the squeeze. CTB stood at 0.50% APR on May 4. By May 6 it reached 1.54% — a doubling in 48 hours. That's still an absolute level short sellers can manage, but the direction and speed matter. When availability tightens and a stock keeps climbing, the cost of staying short rises on both dimensions simultaneously.
Wells Fargo's Chris Carey raised his price target on BUD to $93 yesterday, up from $88, while maintaining an Overweight rating. The stock closed at $82.09 on May 6, leaving roughly 13% upside to that target. The consensus mean sits at $92.28.
The eps_surprise factor score ranks at the 90th percentile — the earnings beat was genuine. EPS momentum over 90 days ranks at the 72nd percentile. Those readings give the bull case a data foundation, not just analyst optimism.
The put/call ratio hit 0.80 on May 6, the highest reading in over a month and near the 52-week high of 0.83. The PCR z-score is 1.34 standard deviations above its 20-day mean. Options positioning is moving toward hedging or outright bearish bets — consistent with shorts building positions through the options market as well as the lending market.
What to watch: if BUD continues higher, availability may hit 100% again — every borrow in the pool lent out — forcing some shorts to either pay materially more to hold or cover into a rising market.
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