EHang Holdings crossed a meaningful threshold this week — the Q1 earnings call is now six days out, short sellers have quietly reduced exposure, and the stock just posted its best weekly gain in months.
The short book is moving for the first time in weeks. SI has dropped 10% over the past seven days to 8.6% of free float, down from a reading closer to 9.5% that had been pinned in place ahead of the print. That's a meaningful shift from the stasis described in prior notes — bears who held through the April unwind and sat on their hands for two weeks are now trimming. The official FINRA count, settled to May 15, still shows 12.2 days to cover, so the position that remains is not small. But the direction has changed.
The borrow market has not materially eased despite that retreat. Availability remains extremely tight at 10.5% — roughly one share available for every nine already lent out — and has been locked in the 8–11% range for the entire past month. Every share in the lending pool is still lent out. Cost to borrow has drifted back to 2.24% APR after briefly spiking to 2.63% on new loans last week. That earlier spike — flagged in the June 2 report as a sign of premium-paying bears trying to pile in ahead of the print — has since partially unwound, which is consistent with the short reduction now showing in the SI estimate. Options remain overwhelmingly skewed toward calls. The put/call ratio of 0.044 is barely above its 20-day average of 0.041, with a z-score of just 0.62 — no sign of fresh defensive hedging. The 52-week low on PCR was 0.022; the current level is barely off that floor. Call buyers have not flinched.
The stock itself rose 7.5% on the week to $10.22, outperforming close peers. ACHR gained 3.5% over the same period, while EVTL slipped 2.6%. AIRO surged 35% — a reminder that aerospace and advanced aviation names can move violently on catalysts. The ORTEX short score has eased to 78.7 from above 81 three weeks ago, tracking the short interest reduction, though it remains at a level that still ranks in the most-shorted cohort of the broader universe. The EPS picture is a genuine bull case ingredient: the 12-month forward EPS estimate has risen over 2,000% year-on-year, and 30-day EPS momentum ranks in the 93rd percentile. Against that, quality and value scores remain weak — negative ROA, negative ROCE, a P/E of 25x on a company still losing money at the EBITDA line. The Street has been broadly positive at the initiation level, though JP Morgan's downgrade to Neutral in late November 2025 — cutting the target from $21 to $13 against a stock now at $10.22 — remains the most recent major action, and it has not been reversed.
Institutional ownership offers one stabilising read. Founder Huazhi Hu holds 28% of shares. Jane Street added 748,806 shares in Q1, while Vanguard Capital Management initiated a position of over 1.6 million shares in the same period. Susquehanna trimmed by 439,000 shares, and Morgan Stanley cut by 326,000. The net flow is mixed but not alarming — new institutional interest is appearing at the same time existing market-maker positions are being pared.
The earnings history is short and consistent in one direction: the last two prints both produced a negative first-day reaction, with moves of -3.4% and -4.2% respectively, and a five-day move of -11.4% after the March event. The June 9 Q1 call is the next data point — and whether the short reduction now underway accelerates or reverses in the 48 hours after the announcement is the number to watch.
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