RDDT heads into the final stretch before its June 8 earnings call with short sellers pulling back, insiders cashing out at pace, and options positioning distinctly calmer than the weeks prior.
The most notable development is a sustained short squeeze on positioning. Short interest has dropped from roughly 17.4 million shares in early May to 15.2 million, now representing 11% of the free float — down 5.5% on the week and 6.2% over the past month. That is a meaningful retreat from the elevated levels that dominated April and early May. Borrow costs remain trivially low at 0.41%, and availability is running at 892% — meaning lenders have nearly nine shares available for every one currently borrowed. That is well above the 52-week low of 315%, confirming the lending market is under no strain whatsoever. There is no squeeze pressure here.
Options have normalised too. The put/call ratio has edged back toward its 20-day mean of 0.82, after the notably bullish tilt (0.79) flagged in last week's note. At 0.81 it is fractionally below average, with a z-score of -0.68 — unremarkable in either direction. The 52-week range runs from 0.61 to 0.94, and the current reading is comfortably mid-range. Options traders are neither pressing the bull case nor hedging aggressively ahead of the June print. The positioning story, across both shorts and options, has quieted down.
Insiders are a different matter entirely. On May 20, five executives sold simultaneously — CEO Steve Huffman disposed of 40,336 shares at $154.88, realising $6.2 million. COO Jen Wong sold 38,112 shares for $5.9 million. CFO Andrew Vollero sold 10,320 shares for $1.6 million. The CLO and Chief Accounting Officer also sold. That coordinated wave follows earlier sales from Wong in the $155–160 range on May 18. Net insider activity over the past 90 days shows 173,676 shares sold with total proceeds of approximately $27.4 million — entirely one-directional. Huffman's consistent selling has been a feature of notes on this stock for several weeks running, and nothing in the latest data changes that picture.
The Street remains broadly constructive, but at a price. Following the April 30 earnings beat — which saw the stock jump 12.7% the next day and hold 11% higher five days out — most analysts lifted targets. Evercore ISI moved to $300. Needham stood pat at $300. Piper Sandler raised to $215. The more cautious voices — Goldman Sachs (Neutral, $180), Wells Fargo (Equal-Weight, $176), and Cantor Fitzgerald (Neutral, $180) — suggest the bull-bear divide is live. The mean target sits at $224.92 against a current price of $144.64, implying a 55% return to consensus. At a P/E of 18.7x and EV/EBITDA of 15.6x, both multiples have compressed over the past 30 days, with P/B also easing. Reddit's bull case rests on AI data licensing and ad revenue growth; the bear case centres on ad saturation risk and the platform's structural dependence on volunteer moderation. EPS momentum over 30 and 90 days ranks in the 85th and 79th percentiles respectively, the standout factor reading in the scorecard.
Among peers, SNAP held up better on the week, closing up 1.4% versus RDDT's 6.6% decline. PINS fell 3%, tracking closer to Reddit's direction. GRND dropped 6.5%, broadly in line. The divergence is modest, suggesting this week's move in RDDT was at least partly idiosyncratic rather than sector-wide.
With the June 8 earnings date confirmed, the primary focus shifts to whether Reddit's AI licensing revenue and advertising trajectory can sustain the growth rates that drove last quarter's outsized post-print reaction — and whether the steady stream of insider selling at $155 continues to cap the recovery.
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