RDNT closed Tuesday at $54.31, up 2.7% on the day but still down 4.5% over the past month — a stock that has been grinding lower since early spring, now trying to stabilise around a level that puts it well below analyst targets.
Short interest has been drifting down from a recent peak but remains firmly elevated. SI % FF pulled back to roughly 13.6% of free float this week, from a one-month high near 14.5% in mid-May. That's a meaningful step back on paper, but the level itself keeps RadNet in the top percentile across the healthcare services universe — the ORTEX short score of 67.3 is near its highest reading of the past fortnight, and the factor rank puts it in just the 8th percentile for short score (meaning it is shorter than 92% of peers). The borrow market tells a calmer story. Cost to borrow is a modest 0.43% — well within ordinary territory — despite a headline week-on-week jump that is largely a base effect from a very low reading two weeks prior. Availability is around 452% of outstanding short interest, meaning lendable supply is abundant relative to the current short position. New shorts face no meaningful friction building positions.
Options sentiment has shifted more noticeably. The put/call ratio runs at 0.44, well above the 20-day mean of 0.28 — a reading roughly one standard deviation above normal, the highest sustained level seen since late April. That gap opened when the PCR roughly quadrupled in a single session around May 18; it has not closed since. Traders appear to be carrying more downside protection than usual, even as the price itself stabilised this week.
The Street's view is constructive but losing confidence on valuation. The consensus mean target is $89.75 — a 65% premium to the current price — but that figure likely overstates current conviction given the recent run of target cuts. Barclays trimmed to $65 in May (its second cut in two months, down from $86 in the autumn), maintaining Overweight throughout. The direction of travel is clearly downward on targets even as the directional rating holds. An EV/EBITDA of 14.7x and a PE close to 78x reflect the growth premium the market has historically attached to RadNet's AI and joint-venture expansion story. On ORTEX factor scores, growth leads at 60 — underpinned by strong revenue momentum — while value sits at just 30 and momentum at 47. The company has beaten earnings estimates at a high rate, ranking in the 92nd percentile on EPS surprise, but the stock has not rewarded those beats recently.
Institutional flows add a layer of interest. T. Rowe Price added 1.5 million shares in Q1, a significant build that lifted its stake to 5.3% of shares outstanding. That puts two major active managers — T. Rowe and RTW Investments — alongside BlackRock as the largest holders. RTW, a specialist healthcare fund, added 346,500 shares in Q1. Both moves signal conviction from informed sector buyers even as the share price slipped. Insider activity, by contrast, has been one-directional: the Chief Scientific Officer sold roughly $1.9 million of stock in March at prices around $62, well above the current level.
The next earnings event is pencilled in for August 7. The prior two prints both produced negative one-day moves of around 4%, with five-day losses extending to roughly 7% in both cases. The March Q4 report delivered a 4% gain on the day but erased it and more over the following week. The pattern is one of post-earnings weakness regardless of the day-one direction.
August 7 is the date to mark. Between now and then, what to watch is whether the put/call elevation persists — or normalises back toward the sub-0.10 levels that dominated April — and whether the short score continues its slow grind higher toward the high 60s.
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