STM has surged 40% in a month. Its own executives are selling into strength. Options traders are loading up on calls anyway.
That three-way tension defines the STMicroelectronics story right now.
The insider activity is the standout. Over the past 90 days, STM insiders have sold a net $20.3M in shares — and the selling accelerated as the stock climbed.
CEO Jean-Marc Chery sold 33,333 shares at $70.64 on May 26, netting $2.35M. That came just five days after selling another 20,000 shares at $64.14 for $1.28M. CFO Lorenzo Grandi sold 10,135 shares on May 26 for $716K. He also sold 30,905 shares on May 13 for $1.89M. Division President Marco Luciano Cassis sold 70,038 shares on May 13 for $4.34M. Division President Remi El-Ouazzane sold across two consecutive days in mid-May, clearing $4.06M combined.
Five separate executives. Consistent pattern. All selling into the rally.
The analyst community is moving in the opposite direction. Mizuho's Vijay Rakesh raised his price target to $68 from $56 on May 19, maintaining Outperform. That followed his April 17 upgrade — from Neutral to Outperform — with a target of $48. TD Cowen raised its Buy target from $39 to $50 in late April.
Yet the stock now trades at $69.31. It has already blown past every recent analyst target. The consensus mean sits at $57.44 — roughly 17% below the current price.
Analysts are raising targets. The stock is outrunning them.
Options traders are the most bullish voice in the room. The put-call ratio hit 0.46 on May 29 — a 52-week low, and the most aggressive call-buying positioning STM has seen all year. The PCR z-score stands at -2.89, nearly three standard deviations below its 20-day mean of 0.53.
That is a decisive tilt toward upside bets at the current price.
Short interest has been volatile. It fell 10% in the week to May 26, then jumped 29.8% in a single day on May 28, then settled back. The weekly change stands at roughly +21%. Shares short sit around 12.7M.
The borrow market, however, tells a different story. Availability is at 1,225% — well over ten shares available for every one currently borrowed. That is an abundantly loose lending pool. Short sellers face no friction in adding or covering positions.
The ORTEX short score of 32 reinforces the picture: short-side pressure on STM remains modest despite the recent spike in shares borrowed.
Next earnings are due July 23. STM jumped 12.5% on its last print. With the stock already running hard, Q1 gross margin at 51.2%, and EPS momentum at an 88th-percentile reading for 12-month forward estimates, the bull case is intact — but insider selling at these levels is worth monitoring closely as the next catalyst approaches.
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Open STM on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
