Bears Pile Into Dave and WaterBridge This Week

Short sellers made sharp new moves this week. Dave Inc. saw the biggest jump among mid-cap US stocks. Its short interest hit 29.2% of free float — up nearly 9 percentage points in just seven days. Bears are betting the fintech's recent rally has run too far.

WaterBridge Infrastructure is another fresh target. SI jumped from 27.6% to 35% of free float in a week. That puts it among the most heavily shorted names in the US market right now.

SLM Corporation and Corsair Gaming also drew new short interest. SLM climbed to 16.2% SI from 12.1%. Corsair reached 17.2%, up 3.2 points.

Hertz remains a short-seller favourite at 39.9% of free float. Availability of shares to borrow has almost dried up — just 1.8% of SI is available. That's a classic float trap. Any positive catalyst could squeeze bears hard.

In the AI outsourcing space, hedge funds are pressing bets against call centre stocks. TTEC sits at 31.8% SI and Concentrix at 23.1%. FT reported funds are shorting the sector on AI disruption fears.

Meanwhile, CleanSpark bears retreated slightly this week despite the crypto miner's stock falling 15%.