GDRX heads into its June 16 earnings date with shorts in full retreat — a dramatic shift from the crowded positioning that defined the stock just three weeks ago.
The scale of the short-side exit is striking. Short interest peaked at 14.2% of the free float on May 5-6, the same window as last quarter's earnings release. The stock jumped 10.9% the day after that print. What followed was one of the cleanest short-cover rallies in the name's recent history. By May 26, SI had collapsed to 7.3% of float — a fall of nearly seven percentage points in three weeks. Over the past week alone, short interest dropped 26%. That is forced covering, not conviction selling.
The lending market confirms the squeeze dynamics are easing. Borrow availability has loosened dramatically — from a tight 63% on May 5 (for every share borrowed, fewer than two-thirds of a share remained to lend) to a much more relaxed 336% today. Cost to borrow has followed the same arc, dropping more than 50% over the past month to 0.43%. The borrow market is no longer signalling stress. Shorts who needed to exit have largely done so, and the remaining 7.3% of float appears to be sitting in more patient hands. The ORTEX short score has dropped from 64.5 on May 13 to 53.5 — off high-tension territory, though still above the neutral midpoint.
Options positioning introduces a mild note of caution. The put/call ratio ticked up to 0.21 on May 26 — nearly two standard deviations above its 20-day average of 0.17. That is still a structurally call-heavy market (call volume dominates by a wide margin), but the recent rise in put demand is worth noting as the stock approaches its next catalyst. Peers moved broadly in the same direction this week: AMWL gained 9.3% and SDGR rose 9.1%, suggesting the broader digital health cohort caught a bid — GDRX's 10.3% weekly move was roughly in line, not an outlier.
The Street has tilted more constructive in the wake of earnings. Citigroup lifted its target to $4.00 from $3.50, and TD Cowen moved from $3.00 to $4.00, both maintaining Buy ratings. That follows a wave of cuts in late February and early March — Wells Fargo halved its target to $3.50, Goldman Sachs dropped to $2.50, and JPMorgan downgraded outright to Neutral. The mean target now sits at $3.18, a 14% premium to the current price of $2.78. Valuation has re-rated alongside the price: the P/E has expanded 1.6 turns over the past month to 8.4x, and EV/EBITDA has crept up to 5.0x. Neither looks stretched given the forward EPS trajectory, where the 12-month forward YoY growth estimate ranks in the 94th percentile of the universe — the clearest fundamental positive in the data. EPS momentum near-term is a different story, ranking only in the 10th-32nd percentile range, which explains why the bullish analyst moves come with measured targets rather than aggressive upside.
Institutional flow adds a quieter supporting thread. LSV Asset Management added 2.2 million shares in Q1, Columbia added 1.2 million, and a Vanguard entity established a new position of 4.3 million shares. These are modest in absolute size against a share count of roughly 339 million, but the direction is consistent — longer-duration money was buying into the February-March weakness. The recent insider activity is effectively noise: the CFO and Chief Accounting Officer sold small amounts on May 15 following routine stock awards, with combined consideration under $60,000. No signal there.
The next print on June 16 will test whether the May earnings beat was a turning point or a one-quarter reprieve. With shorts halved from their recent peak and the borrow market relaxed, the squeeze fuel that amplified the last move is no longer loaded — the outcome this time is more likely to rest on whether the business can demonstrate a durable revenue inflection.
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