EPSM arrives at its FY 2025 earnings release today with one data point that stands apart from everything else: borrowing shares costs over 100% annualised.
The cost to borrow has run above 100% APR for most of the past six weeks, closing at 103.3% on April 27. That is exceptional for a micro-cap distributor with a market cap of roughly $18.7 million. Despite the headline rate, borrow availability is extremely loose — ORTEX estimates availability at 925% of short interest, meaning there are nearly ten shares available for every one currently borrowed. That combination — punishing cost, but ample supply — reflects the highly illiquid nature of the lending market for a stock this small rather than any directional conviction from short sellers. Short interest itself is modest at around 1% of the free float, and the position has shrunk by roughly 23% over the past month as shorts have covered. The stock closed at $1.38, up 2.2% on the week but essentially flat over the past month.
The ownership picture explains much of the structural dynamic. A single insider, Son I Tam, holds approximately 80% of outstanding shares. With that concentration, free float is minimal, and the tiny pool of borrowable shares drives the elevated borrow rate mechanically. Institutional presence is thin: UBS Asset Management and Citadel each built small new positions as of December, but combined they represent well under 1% of shares outstanding. The practical effect is that borrow cost signals here say more about share scarcity than about any organised short thesis.
Past earnings reactions for EPSM have been wide and unpredictable. The October 2025 print delivered a one-day gain of 41%, followed by a five-day move of over 210%. The December 2025 event went the other way — a one-day drop of 17% and a five-day decline of 32%. The June 2025 print was close to flat on the day before recovering 13% over the subsequent week. The range of outcomes is unusually large for a company of this size, consistent with the low float and thin secondary market.
The FY 2025 print is therefore less a test of short positioning — which remains light and retreating — and more a test of whether the company can deliver results that justify a stock trading well off its 52-week highs, down roughly 30% year-to-date, with a borrow market that punishes any new short thesis on cost even as the lending pool remains wide open.
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