Omeros Corporation heads into its May 14 earnings report with the lending market for its shares as tight as it has ever been — a setup that makes the short side of this stock unusually constrained.
The borrow squeeze is the dominant story heading into the print. Availability has collapsed to zero — every share in the lending pool is currently lent out — matching the tightest reading in the past year. That condition has persisted almost continuously through April and into May, meaning new short positions are effectively impossible to initiate without displacing existing borrowers. Short interest itself remains heavy at 22.1% of free float, though it has eased from higher levels, falling roughly 4% over the past week and 10% over the past month. Days to cover run at 13 days on an official FINRA basis — any sharp move would take meaningful time to unwind. Despite this, borrowing costs have stayed low, running just above 1% APR, suggesting that while availability is exhausted, there is no active premium being charged to retain existing borrows.
Options traders are leaning in the opposite direction. The put/call ratio has fallen to 0.31, more than 1.6 standard deviations below its 20-day average — near the lowest reading in the past year. That signals unusually heavy call activity relative to puts, reflecting bullish options positioning even as shorts remain dug in. The stock itself has risen 25% over the past month, though it pulled back 2.6% on Wednesday and 3% over the week, suggesting some of that recent momentum has faded into the print.
Analyst coverage of OMER is thin but uniformly constructive. D. Boral Capital reiterated its Buy and $36 target in late April, while HC Wainwright doubled its target to $40 in January — both firms pointing to the YARTEMLEA launch and the reimbursement infrastructure build as the key value drivers. The stock's current price of $14.38 places it well below both targets, implying the Street sees substantial room to run. Bulls focus on the permanent CMS J-code for YARTEMLEA and the pace of reimbursement conversion; bears point to limited clinical data relative to competing TA-TMA therapies and the potential for early utilization metrics to disappoint before the EMA decision expected in mid-2026. OMER's ORTEX short score ranks in the 1st percentile of the universe — among the most heavily shorted stocks on a composite basis — while its EPS surprise history ranks in only the 19th percentile, meaning the company has not been a consistent beat-and-raise name.
The earnings release will test whether early YARTEMLEA launch metrics can justify the stock's sharp re-rating this year — or whether the gap between bullish analyst targets and thin launch data gives the large short base a reason to rebuild.
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