Three signals are moving in the same direction on SSTK. Short interest has collapsed, the put/call ratio just hit a near two-year low, and the ORTEX short score has dropped sharply. Together they paint a picture of bears pulling back fast.
Short interest fell 43% in a single week, dropping to 2.86% of free float. That is the sharpest weekly decline since April. At that level, SI is not extreme in absolute terms. But the speed of the unwind is the story. Bears shed roughly 800,000 shares in days.
The ORTEX short score reflects this. It stood at 54.8 on May 8. By May 14 it had fallen to 44.7. That ten-point drop in under a week is material. It signals the lending market is pricing in less bearish pressure, not more.
The put/call ratio tells the same story from a different angle. It stood at 2.33 on average over the past 20 days. On May 15 it printed 1.64 — a z-score of -2.90. That is nearly three standard deviations below the recent mean.
The 52-week range runs from 0.08 to 5.20. A PCR at 1.64 is not yet at rock-bottom, but the direction is clear. Options positioning has shifted meaningfully toward calls over the past week.
Cost to borrow rose to 2.03% intraday before settling back to 1.60% as of May 14. That spike — up 107% week-on-week at its peak — is a counterintuitive twist. Availability is not especially tight at current levels, but the brief CTB jump suggests some borrow demand persisted even as headline short interest fell. The move may reflect short sellers scrambling to maintain existing positions rather than add new ones.
Founder and Executive Chairman Jonathan Oringer remains the dominant holder at 29.7% of shares. Callodine Capital Management added 238,176 shares in Q1. State Street added 97,647 shares and Geode Capital Management added 136,939 — modest institutional accumulation at the margin.
Analyst coverage remains thin. Needham holds a Buy rating with a $25 target, lowered from $30 last June. The consensus is a hold. The stock trades near $16.50, well below all recent analyst targets.
What to watch: Whether the PCR continues its slide toward the 52-week low of 0.08, and whether the short score stabilises below 45 or reverses higher.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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