NHP heads into the aftermath of its Q1 results with one story dominating the tape: borrowing costs have fallen off a cliff, and short sellers are retreating fast.
The most striking data point this week is the speed at which cost to borrow has unwound. CTB dropped to 5.0% by May 12 — less than a fifth of its late-April peak of 27.5%. That peak, hit on April 23, reflected a genuine squeeze on the borrow market. Demand for short exposure surged, availability tightened sharply, and the lending pool came under pressure. The reversal since then has been just as dramatic. CTB nearly halved in a single week, falling over 51%. That kind of move signals a rapid exit from bearish positioning rather than a gradual unwind. Availability is now ample — at nearly 496% of estimated short interest — meaning there are roughly five shares available to borrow for every one already shorted. The borrow market is effectively back to normal.
Short interest itself tells a similar story. With about 2.1% of the free float short, NHP is not a heavily contested name. Shares short edged slightly lower this week, down roughly 0.3% on May 12. The days-to-cover reading of around 1.0 (per the most recent FINRA fortnightly figure) means bears could close out in a single session. Combined with the low ORTEX short score rank of 35 — in the lower third of the universe — the positioning picture is one of modest and retreating short interest, not a high-conviction bearish setup.
The earnings context matters here. Q1 results landed on May 13, after the close. FFO came in at $0.26 per share, doubling year-on-year from $0.13, even as revenues dipped fractionally to $86.3 million from $86.4 million. The FFO improvement is the headline — it suggests the trust's cash generation is recovering meaningfully despite flat topline trends. NHP also filed an 8-K earlier in the month disclosing entry into a material definitive agreement, which added some event-driven attention ahead of the print. The stock responded positively: it gained 1.3% on May 12 and is up 2.4% on the week, closing at $13.39.
Ownership is thin. Millennium Management holds the largest institutional stake at 2.6% of shares, a position built entirely fresh as of their April 22 filing — the firm reported no prior holding, making this an outright new entry. Beyond Millennium, the register is dominated by named insiders and small holders. The most recent insider trade on record — a CEO sale of roughly $612,000 in September 2025 — is too stale to read as current signalling. The ORTEX factor scores flag a low dividend score of 17, consistent with the trust still being in recovery mode on distributions. Days-to-cover ranks in the 82nd percentile, reflecting how quickly short positions could theoretically cover — another way of saying the short book is small relative to average trading volume.
With Q1 numbers now public and the borrow market fully relaxed, the next focus shifts to how management characterises the portfolio trajectory on the earnings call scheduled for May 14.
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