The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
NYSEShort interest in EL plunged 31% over the past week, dropping to 8.17 million shares as of March 31. This marks a sharp reversal in bearish sentiment on the beauty products giant. The retreat accelerated from late February, when short interest peaked at 11.79 million shares with days-to-cover at 3.15. Since then, shorts have unwound more than 3.6 million shares worth of positions. Days-to-cover now sits at just 1.3, suggesting minimal pressure on the stock from short covering. Cost to borrow rose 0.39% over the week to 0.47%, still historically low. Utilization collapsed to 2.21%, down from a 52-week high of 13.34% — indicating plenty of shares available for anyone wanting to short. The options market shows neutral sentiment. Put-call ratio sits at 0.995, slightly below the 20-day mean of 1.02. This represents a dramatic shift from mid-March, when PCR spiked above 1.49 as traders loaded up on puts. Estée Lauder shares closed at $75.86 on April 21, down 11.7% over the past month. The stock faces its next earnings event on May 1. The rapid unwinding of short positions suggests bears are taking profits or cutting losses after a prolonged downtrend in the stock. With utilization near rock-bottom levels and borrowing costs low, the path remains open for shorts to re-enter if fundamentals deteriorate further. This analysis is based on ORTEX data and is not financial advice.
Short Sellers Retreat From Estée Lauder
Short interest in EL plunged 31% over the past week, dropping to 8.17 million shares as of March 31. This marks a sharp reversal in bearish sentiment on the beauty products giant. The retreat accelerated from late February, when short interest peaked at 11.79 million shares with days-to-cover at 3.15. Since then, shorts have unwound more than 3.6 million shares worth of positions. Days-to-cover now sits at just 1.3, suggesting minimal pressure on the stock from short covering. Cost to borrow rose 0.39% over the week to 0.47%, still historically low. Utilization collapsed to 2.21%, down from a 52-week high of 13.34% — indicating plenty of shares available for anyone wanting to short. The options market shows neutral sentiment. Put-call ratio sits at 0.995, slightly below the 20-day mean of 1.02. This represents a dramatic shift from mid-March, when PCR spiked above 1.49 as traders loaded up on puts. Estée Lauder shares closed at $75.86 on April 21, down 11.7% over the past month. The stock faces its next earnings event on May 1. The rapid unwinding of short positions suggests bears are taking profits or cutting losses after a prolonged downtrend in the stock. With utilization near rock-bottom levels and borrowing costs low, the path remains open for shorts to re-enter if fundamentals deteriorate further. This analysis is based on ORTEX data and is not financial advice.
Snapshot as of 6 May 2026
No long-form analysis yet for EL. Pulse alerts and the live data picture are available on ORTEX.
Open EL on ORTEX →Short interest updated daily, real-time options flow, analyst consensus deltas, 13F positioning, ORTEX Alpha signals, and every article ORTEX publishes for EL — free to start on ORTEX.
Sign up for free →Open EL on ORTEX