Short interest figures for the end of December were released after the close yesterday. Earlier today, we sent out our bi-monthly update on short interest figures, which showed widespread declines across all sectors and market caps. In fact, of the 1,500 stocks in the S&P 1500, only 352 saw an increase in short interest during the last two weeks of December. That being said, there are still a number of stocks with a high level of short interest.
The table below lists the 39 stocks in the S&P 1500 where short interest as a percentage of float is more than 25%. Not surprisingly, three small-cap stocks (Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI), American Greetings (AM) and Questcor (QCOR)) top the list. Small-cap stocks typically have higher levels of short interest as they tend to be less established and therefore often times tend to have shakier finances.
While small-cap stocks dominate the list, there are a number of well known mid-cap and large-cap stocks on the list as well. Deckers Outdoor (DECK), for example, currently has nearly half of its float sold short, while J.C. Penney (JCP) is not far behind at 46.11%. Other notable names on the current list include First Solar (FSLR), Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) and Netflix (NFLX).
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