The lending market for EMPD has tightened sharply. Cost to borrow hit 28.90% — up 73% in one week and more than 300% over the past month. That's the standout signal in this convergence.
Availability has dropped to roughly 7.5%. For every 13 shares already borrowed, only one remains available to lend. That's an extremely tight lending pool.
The 52-week peak availability was 0% — meaning the pool has been fully drained before. Current levels suggest the market is approaching that extreme again.
Cost to borrow has climbed persistently. It stood near 4.6% in late March. It crossed 10% in early April. Now it sits at 28.90%. The move is systematic, not a one-day spike.
Short interest is down 22.4% over the past week to 5.45% of free float. At first glance that looks like bears retreating. The lending data tells a different story.
When shorts are covering and the borrow market is tightening, it often means the remaining short positions are becoming harder — and more expensive — to maintain. Shorts paying 28.90% annually to hold positions face meaningful carry costs.
The ORTEX short score stands at 70.97. That ranks in the top 3rd percentile for short score across the universe, indicating elevated structural short interest pressure despite the recent position reduction.
ATG Capital Management built a new 14.9% stake as of April 2, adding 4.5 million shares. That's the largest single holder. Empery Asset Management — the namesake fund — holds a further 9.7%.
An insider entity classified as a 10% owner bought over 1.1 million shares across five days in late January and early February, spending roughly $3.75 million. Net insider buying over 90 days totals approximately $7.2 million.
EMPD is due to report on May 11. The last four earnings events produced moves of +5%, +0.7%, -3%, and -5% on the day. With borrow costs now elevated and the lending pool near capacity, the cost to maintain a short position into that print is not trivial.
Data summary
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open EMPD 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.
