MTEX shorts nearly double in a week ahead of earnings

Mannatech heads into its May 19 earnings report with short sellers rebuilding positions at an unusual pace — a sharp contrast to the stock's relative calm over recent weeks.

Short interest is the story this week. SI % of free float has more than doubled in five trading sessions, climbing from around 2.9% to 6.7% by May 12 — a level that marks the highest reading in the 30-day data window. That move follows a quieter spell through April when SI held in a narrow band around 2.8–3.0%. The acceleration is notable: a 132% week-on-week increase in shares short, and a 444% rise over the past month. Whatever prompted the buildup, it was not gradual.

The lending market is beginning to reflect that demand, though borrow remains accessible. Cost to borrow has been moving in the wrong direction — steadily easing from a 30-day peak near 15.4% in late March down to 6.6% now, which means the borrow squeeze story is not what drove this week's short interest surge. The short score confirms the pace of change: it jumped from 37.6 on May 8 to 52.0 by May 12 — a 14-point move in four sessions. Yet utilization is now at 18.9%, the highest 52-week reading in the data, suggesting the lending pool is meaningfully tighter than it was even last week when utilization was closer to 7-8%.

Mannatech itself has had a difficult year. The stock closed Tuesday at $4.89, down nearly 41% year-to-date and off 13% over the past month. The one-week performance is a modest +0.2%, but Wednesday's 3.9% decline underlines how little there is to anchor buyers right now. RSI sits at 45.4 — neutral, neither oversold nor signalling momentum recovery. There is no meaningful analyst coverage to point to, and the screening data returns no consensus rating or price target, which is typical for a stock at this market cap (roughly $9.8M). The company stopped paying dividends in mid-2022 and there is no forward yield.

The earnings setup is the key near-term lens. The next print is due on May 19. Looking at recent reactions, the pattern is mixed: a +9.5% jump the day after the April 15 release, then a -7.1% drop on March 31 and a -2.1% reaction in November 2025. The five-day outcomes tell a similar ambivalent story. That inconsistency means the recent short interest buildup could be read either as directional conviction ahead of what some expect to be a weak quarter, or as hedging by concentrated holders in a very thinly traded name. The top five holders — all individuals, per the January 2026 filings — control roughly 48% of shares outstanding combined, leaving a very small genuine free float against which the short interest numbers become amplified.

What to watch between now and May 19: whether the SI% of free float stabilises or continues climbing toward the 8–10% range, and whether the cost to borrow reaccelerates as borrow demand intensifies in the final days before the print.