Co-Diagnostics reports after the bell today. The lending market tells a striking pre-earnings story.
Availability has fallen to near-zero. With 93.51% of the lending pool already lent out, only about one share remains available for every fourteen already borrowed. That's close to the 52-week peak of 100% utilisation — the tightest the borrow market has been all year.
Cost to borrow reflects the squeeze. CTB stands at 61%, up 194% over the past week alone. Just a month ago it sat around 26%. Lenders are charging a steep premium for what little stock remains available to borrow.
The percentage moves are eye-catching. Short interest rose 431% week-on-week and nearly 800% over the past month. In absolute terms, that puts estimated shorts at around 350,700 shares — equal to 0.58% of the free float.
That is a small float percentage. But the speed of the build matters. From roughly 64,000 shares short in early May, positions have grown more than fivefold in two weeks. The ORTEX short score jumped to 77.2, up from 45.9 on May 4.
The put/call ratio dropped to exactly 0.0 on May 13. That sits 2.77 standard deviations below the 20-day mean of 0.06. No puts are currently open relative to calls. The 52-week PCR high is 0.67 — making this the most one-sided bullish options positioning the stock has seen all year.
Short sellers are paying heavily to borrow. Options traders are positioned entirely on the call side. Both signals are converging into today's earnings print.
CODX has a history of post-earnings volatility. The last two reports produced a -4.7% next-day move and a +12.1% move respectively. With borrow availability near zero and the options market fully skewed to calls, any earnings surprise — in either direction — could produce an outsized reaction in the lending market.
Data summary
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