Capricor Therapeutics has reached a tentative plateau in short pressure, with the post-earnings bear build levelling off and borrow conditions loosening noticeably — though the underlying short position remains near its highest level in months.
The headline shift from the previous two notes is in availability. After tightening sharply from around 440% to 196% by May 19-20, the lending pool has opened back up. Availability now runs at 331% — roughly back to mid-May levels — as the pace of new short demand slowed. Short interest itself has eased slightly from the May 19 peak of 11.2 million shares, pulling back to 10.74 million as of May 25. At 23.5% of the free float, the position remains deeply elevated and still ranks in the 11th percentile of short score against the broader market. The ORTEX short score has also retreated from 73.7 on May 19 to 69.3 — still high, but no longer accelerating. Cost to borrow has drifted lower as well, from around 0.58% a week ago to 0.48%, confirming that borrow demand has softened. The short thesis is intact; the aggression has moderated.
Options positioning offers little additional signal. The put/call ratio holds at 0.40, virtually identical to its 20-day average of 0.40 — a z-score near zero. Bears aren't hedging harder through options, and there's no unusual call buying to suggest bulls are pressing back. The setup is quiet from that angle.
The Street picture is complicated by CAPR's development-stage status. Valuation multiples — negative PE of -54 and negative EV/EBITDA of -8.5 — reflect a pre-revenue biotech burning cash, not a screener-friendly investment. The EPS surprise factor scores at the 69th percentile, suggesting the company has historically beaten expectations on the bottom line, even if the business isn't yet profitable. No recent analyst data is available for the stock.
Institutional flows paint a more interesting picture. Suvretta Capital Management added 2.9 million shares in Q1 2026, Tang Capital added 1.7 million, and State Street added 1.35 million — all reported as of March 31. Vanguard entered as a new holder with 2.0 million shares, and Jones Hill Capital opened a fresh position of 909,000 shares. Point72 went the other direction, trimming by roughly 1 million shares over the same period. Against this backdrop of active institutional reshuffling, insiders have been steady sellers. CFO Anthony Bergmann and General Counsel Karen Krasney each sold 25,000 shares on May 1, continuing a pattern of executive sales throughout March and April that totalled over $6.8 million in net value over the past 90 days. The insider selling is consistent but not panicked — trade significance scores are low across all transactions.
The next confirmed earnings event is August 6. The May 12 print produced a 4.9% drop the next day and a 15.6% drawdown over the following five sessions — the market's clearest recent datapoint on how this stock absorbs quarterly news. With shorts still holding a 23.5% free float position and the next major catalyst more than ten weeks out, the question heading into summer is whether the moderation in short-building activity continues or whether a new catalyst reignites demand for borrows.
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