Washington Mutual: Short Interest Remains High

On Monday, Washington Mutual (WM), the leading U.S. mortgage lender, ousted Kerry Killinger, its long-time chief executive, and replaced him with an outsider - a move that suggests the bank might be up for sale (Source: FT). A victim of the U.S. Real Estate market, WaMu's share price has dropped from $40 to $3 since mid-2007.

Short interest remains high in WaMu, with 24.7% of its Market Cap out on loan (%MCOL) to short sellers. At one stage in late July, WaMu's %MCOL peaked at 52%, in line with a 50M shares traded, compared to the six-month average of 20M. Utilization is at 73%, and there are 58 Days to Cover. Long-only institutions have also been selling their stock as the Lendable Quantity has gone from 300M shares in March, to 450M now.

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Comments

[TRob:]

What do you mean by "utilization"? And %MCOL is just another way of saying short ratio (i.e., market cap/shorts taken in the current or most recent month), correct?

Thanks Jessica

2008 Sep 09 11:40 AM

[TRob:]

What do you mean by "utilization"? And %MCOL is just another way of saying short ratio (i.e., market cap/shorts taken in the current or most recent month), correct?

Thanks Jessica

2008 Sep 09 11:40 AM

[ediblegardener:]

TRob, try WM at this site, if you want more short info:
shortsqueeze.com/

2008 Sep 09 05:10 PM

[ediblegardener:]

Jessica, there seems to be a major discrepency re WM days to cover.
you say 58 days.
shortsqueeze says 5 days.

2008 Sep 09 05:15 PM

[E Nuff Sed:]

The shortsqueeze data can be upto a month old. Also it does not report "dark pool" data - only from excahnges.
Also I checked Smartmoney.com - it says only 3.8% of the float is short (as of 8/12/2008).

2008 Sep 10 12:06 AM

[ediblegardener:]

e nuff sed, thank you for the clarification.

2008 Sep 10 12:27 PM

[jimmy46:]

A victim of the U.S. Real Estate market, WaMu's share price """"""""


Not true !!!!
WM is a victim of bad management

2008 Sep 10 02:57 PM