CARV enters this week with a striking divergence: the stock has surged 20% in a month while short interest has more than doubled over the same period.
The price move is the headline. Shares closed at $1.74 on April 28, up nearly 1% on the week and 20% over the past month. For a community bank trading on the OTC market with no analyst coverage and no dividend history since 2010, that kind of monthly run invites scrutiny of who is building positions — and who is pushing back against them.
The short side has been scaling up fast, though the absolute level remains tiny. Estimated short interest doubled from roughly 4,200 shares in early April to 9,343 shares by April 23 — a 120% rise over 30 days. In percentage-of-float terms, it now registers at 0.22%, up from around 0.10% a month ago. Those are microscopic figures for any benchmark. The borrow market reflects zero tension: borrowing costs are running at roughly 0.50% annualised — essentially risk-free to hold a short — and availability is extremely loose, with days-to-cover at just 1.1 days. The ORTEX short score of 27.9 sits well below any level that would signal short-selling pressure. This is not a short-driven story.
The ownership picture is more interesting than the positioning data. Barry Mann holds 10.3% of shares, reported in December 2025 as a fresh position. Detyga LLC added 378,449 shares, also reported in December 2025. Together, those two new entrants accounted for significant concentrated buying in the final quarter of last year. The institutional holder list is thin — just 17 holders in total — and heavily dominated by individual stakeholders and community-focused entities such as National Community Investment Fund and Dream Chasers Capital Group. American Express holds a small legacy position from its community development activities. That ownership profile is consistent with a mission-driven community development financial institution rather than a speculative vehicle.
On April 27, Carver published a press release naming a slate of director candidates for its 2026 annual meeting — the only news item this week. The announcement is procedurally routine, but the timing matters: it dropped alongside a week of positive price action and comes as the bank prepares for its next earnings release on June 24. The last three earnings prints produced mixed reactions. The February 2026 print saw a one-day decline of just 0.2% but a five-day gain of 14%. The November 2025 prints were more volatile — one event produced a five-day loss of 56%.
The story heading into June 24 is less about short pressure or institutional re-rating and more about whether the recent price strength reflects genuine fundamental improvement or simply low-float dynamics in a thinly traded name. With fewer than 6.2 million shares in the free float and a share count in the single millions, the stock remains highly sensitive to small order flows — the annual meeting slate and any shifts in the community ownership base are the metrics worth watching between now and the earnings date.
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