Sprinklr enters its next earnings event — scheduled for June 11 — with short interest climbing again after a dramatic unwind, and options traders leaning more bullish than usual, creating a tension worth watching.
Short sellers had been aggressively exiting all through May. SI % of free float fell from a peak of roughly 22% in late April to a trough near 13.1% by May 22-25. That was a meaningful retreat — more than a third of the short position covered in under a month. The reversal came quickly. In the past week alone, short interest climbed 14%, taking the float percentage back to 15% as of June 2. The pattern looks like covering into strength — the stock gained 6% on the week — followed by renewed positioning as the earnings date draws closer.
The borrow market tells a nuanced story here. Cost to borrow is negligible at 0.46%, barely moved over a month. Availability is extremely loose at 749% of short interest, meaning there are roughly seven-and-a-half times as many shares available to lend as are currently borrowed. The ORTEX short score has ticked up to 57 from around 55 earlier in the week, and the 52-week utilization peak was only 34% — so despite a significant float short position, the lending market shows no squeeze pressure whatsoever. Shorts can add freely with minimal friction.
Options positioning contradicts the rebuilding short base. The put/call ratio has dropped to 0.19, well below its 20-day average of 0.20 and close to its 52-week low of 0.15. That means calls are dominating the options flow — a sign that some investors are positioned for upside into the print, not protection against the downside. The divergence between rising short interest and call-heavy options positioning is the central tension heading into June 11.
The Street is not particularly encouraging. The most recent analyst action came from DA Davidson in mid-April, lowering its target to $6.25 while keeping a Neutral rating. Morgan Stanley cut its target from $10 to $7 back in March, and Citigroup followed with a move from $9 to $7 on the same day. The tone across the analyst community is consistent: maintain ratings, lower targets. The mean price target sits at $8.47, implying roughly 50% upside from the current $5.62 close — but that gap reflects targets set months ago, before recent softness, and should be read with caution given the March target-cut cycle. Bulls point to the company's Non-GAAP operating margin guidance of ~16.7% and potential CCaaS momentum. Bears counter with flagging gross retention, a shrinking >$1M ARR customer cohort, and flat RPO growth as signs that top-line recovery remains elusive.
Ownership concentration is notable. Hellman & Friedman holds 26.7% of shares and made no change last quarter. Founder and Chairman Ragy Thomas controls another 17.5%, but trimmed by 660,000 shares in the most recent reported period. BlackRock added meaningfully — nearly 1.4 million shares as of April 30 — while Vanguard-affiliated entities collectively initiated or expanded positions. The institutional picture is therefore mixed: passive inflows alongside some founder selling, with no clear activist signal.
Close peers had a strong week — WDAY gained 20% and TEAM surged 28%, while CRM and FRSH both added over 12%. Sprinklr's 6% week was respectable but it trails the peer group by a wide margin, continuing a pattern of underperformance that has seen the stock shed roughly 34% year-to-date. The June 11 print — and whatever color management provides on retention, ARR cohort trends, and AI-driven CCaaS traction — will determine whether the renewed short positioning was prescient or premature.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open CXM 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.
