VNET Group enters next week's Q1 results carrying a significant fresh catalyst: the company announced Wednesday that PJ Millennium Funds will purchase 650 million shares at $1.45 apiece — equivalent to $8.69 per ADS — in a strategic investment that injects new institutional weight into a stock already 6.4% higher on the week at $9.02.
The options market has picked up sharply on the news, and the tilt is unmistakably bullish. The put/call ratio dropped to 0.28 on Tuesday — more than 2.5 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.49 — making this the most call-heavy reading in months, not far from the 52-week low of 0.17. Call buyers have overwhelmed put buyers, suggesting traders are leaning heavily into the upside setup ahead of the May 20 earnings call. That's a meaningful shift from April, when the ratio ran as high as 0.68.
Short positioning tells a more nuanced story. SI % of FF is 12.3% — still a material overhang — but the direction is clearly unwinding. Shorts have been covering for over a month: the estimate fell from roughly 37.1 million shares in early April to 33.1 million now, a drop of around 11% over the past 30 days. Cost to borrow has moved barely at all, still near 0.80% APR, which is negligible. Borrow availability is comfortable at 166%, meaning there is more than enough supply in the lending pool to accommodate new short positions — no squeeze dynamics are present at current levels. The short score has also eased from 72.8 in late April to 69.6, tracking the unwind in positions.
Institutional ownership flags an interesting ownership structure. Shandong Hi-Speed Holdings holds 38% of shares — a dominant, sticky anchor position. Beyond that, Sheng Chen added 5.85 million shares as recently as mid-March, and co-located filings show new names entering: Chung-Hou Tai reported 7.6 million shares entirely new, and Xiaoheng Shao reported 6.3 million also from scratch. Point72 added over 1 million shares. That inflow from multiple institutions in Q1 supports the strategic narrative the company is building, and now the PJ Millennium announcement adds another layer to the ownership rebuild story.
On the Street, the most recent meaningful action from a major firm was B of A Securities raising its target to $12.60 in August 2025 while maintaining a Buy. Citigroup had previously raised to $20 in March 2025 — that target looks stretched against the current $9.02 print and should be treated cautiously. The factor scores are striking on the earnings side: VNET ranks in the 97th percentile for 30-day EPS momentum and posts a perfect 100th percentile EPS surprise score. Those are among the highest readings possible. The PE multiple has compressed sharply — down 30.5 points over the past month to 66.7x — suggesting the rally has come in part from earnings estimate upgrades rather than pure multiple expansion. EV/EBITDA has drifted down to 10.2x from recent highs.
The most recent earnings history adds important context for next week. The March 2026 print produced an 11.2% single-day drop and a 14.7% loss over the following five days. The November 2025 print saw a 5.9% fall on the day and 15.7% over the week. Both prints punished longs. With the put/call ratio at near-record lows and options traders heavily positioned for upside, the question heading into May 20 is whether the new strategic capital announcement — and two months of short covering — has genuinely shifted the stock's reaction function, or whether the bullish options positioning leaves the stock more vulnerable to a repeat of the prior pattern if the numbers disappoint.
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