HURN heads into early June carrying two distinct narratives: a stock down nearly 19% over the past month, and a fresh M&A deal that arrived today as short sellers continued to quietly unwind.
The clearest data point this week is the unwinding of bearish positioning. Short interest dropped 25% over the past seven trading days, falling from roughly 4.3% to 3.2% of the free float — the lowest level since early May. The retreat was not subtle: shorts shed positions on almost every session in the stretch, starting from a high near 4.3% on May 21. Cost to borrow underscores the story. It has eased to 0.37%, down 16% on the week and 16% over the past month, reflecting reduced urgency from those trying to establish short exposure. Borrow availability, meanwhile, is exceptionally loose at 1,327% — meaning nearly fourteen times as many shares are available in the lending pool as are currently borrowed. The message from the lending market is unambiguous: this is not a contested short, and bears are retreating.
Options positioning reinforces the less defensive tone. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.62, a full standard deviation below its 20-day average of 0.75. For most of May, the ratio ran above 0.80 and briefly touched above 1.05 around the May 5 earnings release. The reset lower suggests options traders have dialled back their hedging as the initial post-earnings sell-off shock fades. The short score — ORTEX's composite short-pressure indicator — mirrors the same trajectory, easing to 34.8 after peaking near 39.5 in late May.
The Street is a harder story to read. Analyst targets average $205.50 against a closing price of $106.61, implying theoretical upside above 90%. Wedbush reiterated Outperform in early May after the Q1 print with a $160 target, which at least acknowledges reality better than the broader average. Targets set before the May earnings reaction — which saw the stock fall 9% on the day and 16.5% over the following week — have not been widely revised down, leaving the consensus picture flattering but stale. Factor scores offer a nuanced read: EV/EBIT ranks in the 78th percentile of the universe, and forward EPS momentum ranks in the 72nd percentile, suggesting valuation has become genuinely interesting and estimate revisions are at least stabilising. The PE ratio has contracted sharply over 30 days, down nearly 2.9 points.
The most notable development today is the acquisition of RelateCare, a patient access and care coordination firm. Huron described the deal as expanding its AI-enabled healthcare managed services capability — a direct response to the bear case that its healthcare segment faces funding pressure in a tighter reimbursement environment. The move deepens the company's healthcare footprint and extends the technology-enabled services pivot that has been the centrepiece of the bull case. No financial terms were disclosed, which limits the immediate read-through, but the deal direction fits the narrative management has been running: grow through adjacency in digital healthcare rather than retreat from it. Director Joy Brown sold just under 1,800 shares at prices around $104–$106 on May 22, a modest disposal well below the level that would signal genuine alarm from the inside.
Peers navigated the week more comfortably. TNET gained 13.3% over the past seven days, CBZ added 7.3%, and ADP climbed 5.9%. HURN's 2.6% weekly gain looks pedestrian by comparison, though it follows a far steeper drawdown. CRAI was the only correlated peer in the red on the week, off 1.1%, suggesting the broader professional services complex has been recovering while Huron plays catch-up from a lower base.
The next earnings date is July 28. Between now and then, the RelateCare integration terms, any analyst target revisions that actually reflect the post-May price level, and whether options positioning stays subdued or reloads on the upside will define how much the valuation gap between the stock and the Street begins to close.
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