HCWB (HCW Biologics) has become one of the most aggressively shorted small-cap biotechs in the US market. Short interest has exploded 647% in one week to 44.4% of float. Cost to borrow has hit 772% APR — a record high for the stock.
Short interest stood at roughly 111,000 shares in mid-April. By May 18 it had climbed to 1.2 million. That is a tenfold increase in just over a month.
The cost to borrow tells the same story. CTB held in the 310–360% range through April. It broke above 330% on May 11. By May 15 it had reached 448%. As of May 18 it sits at 772% — up 137% in a single week.
Availability has dropped to 0%. Every share in the lending pool is currently lent out. This is the tightest the borrow market has been in at least 52 weeks. New short positions are effectively impossible to establish without paying an extreme premium or waiting for returned stock.
The ORTEX short score has moved sharply higher. It sat at 63.4 on May 7. It crossed 75 on May 11. It now stands at 80.6 — with HCWB ranking in the 1st percentile for availability across all covered stocks. Days-to-cover ranks at the 87th percentile.
The short interest history shows the acceleration was not gradual. Shares short were flat around 140,000–160,000 through early May. The step change began on May 11, with a further surge between May 14 and May 15, and another large jump to May 18.
The next scheduled earnings event is May 22. The most recent earnings release on May 14 produced a one-day move of +249%. That print appears to have directly triggered the short-interest surge — short shares jumped from 574,000 to 951,000 between May 14 and May 15 alone.
The stock is up 335% over the past week and 207% over the past month. With availability at zero and cost to borrow at record highs, any further upward price pressure creates a mechanically difficult environment for existing short positions.
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