OPTX — Syntec Optics Holdings — heads into its May 18 earnings call with the short-selling story completely transformed from just three weeks ago.
In late April, the borrow market for Syntec was fully seized. Availability had tightened to zero, every share in the lending pool was out on loan, and cost to borrow peaked near 290% annualised. That was the backdrop for a brutal April 30 session, when the stock fell 15.6% to $6.92 — the same day the company filed a prospectus for a $20 million follow-on offering at $7.00 per share. The dilution was the catalyst shorts had been pressing against, and for a moment the trade looked maximally crowded.
Then the unwind began. Short interest has collapsed roughly 64% over the past month, falling from around 1.75 million shares to 443,000 — just 1.2% of free float today. The borrow market has loosened dramatically in step: cost to borrow dropped from 275% at the end of April to 88% now, a 34% decline in a single week. Availability, which was essentially zero through most of April, has opened back up as short sellers returned shares and lending supply normalised. The 52-week high for borrow costs sits at those April extremes; the current level, while still elevated versus most US small-caps, represents a radically different condition. Availability remains below normal ranges, signalling the borrow is not cheap, but it is no longer a gridlock.
The fundamental backdrop that drove the short interest build is now clearer. Q1 results, released May 15, showed revenue of $6.51 million — down from $7.07 million a year ago — and a net loss of $0.90 million, swinging from a $0.32 million profit in Q1 2025. Loss per share came in at $0.02 against earnings of $0.01 a year prior. Full-year 2025 results disclosed in late March told a similar story: revenue barely moved at $28.1 million versus $28.5 million, with the net loss narrowing to $1.79 million from $2.48 million. For a small-cap precision optics manufacturer with a market cap just above $300 million, the gap between the equity raise valuation and the underlying revenue trajectory is the central tension the May 18 call will need to address.
Ownership concentration adds a separate dimension. Al Kapoor holds 76.9% of shares, leaving a free float that, by definition, is extremely thin. That structural illiquidity is precisely why the borrow market went to zero availability so quickly in April — a relatively modest increase in short demand met a near-empty lending pool. With insiders and directors locked up until July 28 following the April offering, the float dynamic is unlikely to shift materially before summer. The three board-level holders — Bishop, Rosenthal, and Manzone — each added 77,320 shares in the most recently reported period, a modest increase but a uniform signal from the board.
The ORTEX short score of 62.8 places Syntec in elevated territory, though it has eased from 71.4 at the start of May as the short interest itself declined. The RSI at 44 is modestly below neutral — not oversold, but not generating upward momentum either. The stock closed at $7.16 on May 15, down 2.2% for the week and 36.5% for the month, sitting just above the $7.00 offering price that anchored the April capital raise. Close peers VPG and COHR had a contrasting week, surging 44.7% and 14.1% respectively, while LASR fell 7.0% in line with OPTX — suggesting the pressure on Syntec is more company-specific than sector-wide.
What to watch on May 18: whether management provides any forward revenue guidance that justifies the $20 million raised in April, and whether the borrow market interprets that call as a signal to rebuild short positions or to continue the month-long unwind.
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