SATS enters its May 15 Q1 2026 earnings report as one of the most heavily shorted names in the US market — and that position has been growing fast.
Short interest has climbed to 26.3% of the free float, up more than 6% over the past week and nearly 9% over the past month. That rate of accumulation heading into the print is the standout signal. The ORTEX short score — a composite of borrow activity, days to cover, and positioning dynamics — reached 77.0 on May 11, the highest reading in the trailing history and ranking in the 3rd percentile of the entire universe (meaning only 3% of stocks are more heavily shorted). Days to cover now stand at 11 sessions based on official FINRA data, giving short sellers a meaningful unwind problem if the stock catches a bid. Borrow cost remains surprisingly modest at 0.86% annualised, though it has risen 29% over the past month — a sign that demand for shorts is picking up even as the borrow market hasn't fully repriced yet.
Options tell a sharply different story from the short book. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.41 — more than two standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.44, and closer to the 52-week low of 0.26 than to the high of 0.91. That unusual call skew suggests options traders are leaning bullish into the release, even as short sellers pile in on the other side. The stock has backed this optimism up: SATS gained 10.3% over the past week, closing at $129.38, putting it well ahead of most of its modestly correlated peers. and were both down around 5% on the week, and fell over 33%.
The fundamental backdrop is complicated. EchoStar carries $16.8 billion in net debt and generates a normalised net loss — consensus EPS estimates sit at -$3.02 — making the EV/EBITDA multiple of roughly 25x a demanding ask for a company with no clear path to profitability on a normalised basis. EPS momentum is weak, ranking in just the 7th and 9th percentiles over 30 and 90 days respectively. The analyst community is largely on the sidelines: the consensus is a Hold with no Buy recommendations in the formal snapshot, though TD Cowen maintained a Buy with a $158 target back in January, and Deutsche Bank held a Buy at $131 in December 2025. Both targets were set before the stock's recent run to $129 — so there is little margin of safety implied in those figures now. UBS raised its Neutral target to $127 in early March, fractionally below current levels.
The ownership picture adds an unusual layer. Chairman Charles Ergen and the Ergen Family Trust together control roughly 50% of shares. That concentration means the float available to trade — and to borrow — is structurally constrained, which may be contributing to the borrow market tightening seen over the past month even as the headline cost remains contained. Insiders were net sellers in early March, with the CEO, COO, and CLO all offloading shares in the $107–$115 range — well below where the stock trades today.
Thursday's print will test whether the operational business — still carrying the weight of a heavy satellite infrastructure and a stretched balance sheet — can show enough EBITDA momentum to justify a stock price that has already outpaced even the most bullish analyst targets from six months ago.
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