Fervo Energy Company is writing its first weeks of post-IPO price history with a sharp rally and an even sharper reset in borrowing costs — the real story is how quickly the lending market has normalised after the chaos around its debut.
The company listed on May 13 at $27 per share, immediately opening at $36. The stock closed the week at $39.51, up roughly 9% over seven days and 46% above its offer price. That kind of move in the first two weeks of trading tends to attract both genuine conviction and opportunistic shorts — which makes the borrow market data worth examining closely.
The clearest signal in the lending market is how far costs have collapsed in just two weeks. Borrowing FRVO shares cost 34.4% at the peak around the May 14 debut week. By May 26 that figure had fallen to 2.56% — down 56% in a single week. That is not a gradual easing; it is a near-complete normalisation. Availability backs this up. It now runs at 681% — meaning roughly seven shares are available to borrow for every one currently lent out. A week ago availability was tighter, nearer 683%, but the broader context is abundant supply. There is no squeeze pressure here. Short interest, where it can be estimated, is not materially elevated, and the ORTEX short score of 34.9 is at the lower end of the 30-40 band it has occupied all fortnight — confirming that the short-selling community is not pressing hard in either direction.
Options positioning reads as quietly bullish. The put/call ratio hit 0.39 on May 18 — the 52-week high, albeit from a very short history — and has since eased back to 0.23. Calls heavily outnumber puts. The 52-week low is zero, so the full range is thin. But the direction of travel matters: as the stock has risen, demand for protective puts has faded rather than grown, which reflects confidence rather than hedging anxiety.
The Street's opening view arrived this week. Jefferies initiated coverage on May 27 with a Hold rating and a $42 price target — just 6% above the current price. That is not an enthusiastic start. A Hold from the first covering analyst frames expectations carefully: Jefferies is effectively signalling that most of the post-IPO re-rating has already happened. The institutional register tells a more interesting story. Devon Energy holds 12.6% of shares — a strategic energy company owning a meaningful stake in a geothermal developer signals sector conviction. Capricorn Investment Group holds another 12.1%, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (the Bill Gates-backed climate fund) holds just under 5%. All three positions were reported as new as of May 14. That is a concentrated, mission-driven register typical of a freshly listed climate infrastructure company rather than a broadly distributed public float.
The enterprise value on record is approximately $1.3 billion, set against a market capitalisation now approaching $10.9 billion — a significant gap that reflects the company's early-stage status and the fact that EV figures may not yet capture the full post-IPO capital structure. Treat any valuation multiples with caution at this stage; the financials are still settling into their public form.
The next event worth watching is whether Jefferies' initiation prompts further Street coverage. A Hold at $42 is a conservative opening bid; if additional analysts arrive with Buy ratings or materially higher targets, the gap between the IPO price and current levels could attract renewed attention. The borrow market, already loose, will tell you first whether any new short interest is building around that debate.
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