Short Report: Lyft short interest at record high

Welcome to this week’s installment of “The Short Interest Report” – The Fly’s weekly recap of short interest trends among some of the most widely followed high-short-float stocks. Using the data from our partner Ortex.com, which utilizes the latest information from stock lenders to estimate short interest changes for thousands of publicly traded companies, this report will screen for some of biggest changes in short interest as a percentage of free float and days-to-cover ratios while also considering the short interest data on some of the more volatile and heavier-traded names of the week. Based on the availability of data from Ortex, the report tracks the trading period that covers prior Friday through Thursday of this week, excluding holidays. As a basis of comparison for stocks discussed below, the S&P 500 index was up 1.0%, the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.4%, the Russell 2000 index was up 2.1%, the Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) was up 2.1% and the Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) was up 2.1% in the five-day trading session range through April 23rd.

SHORT INTEREST GAINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest on Lyft (LYFT) has extended its two-month-long breakout this week, rising from 22.9% to 25.7% – a new record high. Days to cover on Lyft was up from 4.3 to 4.6 amid normal trading volume activity. Shares of Lyft have been unable to recover since the company’s disappointing Q4 results in mid-February, leading to a double-digit decline in the stock price, and the bears are more willing to add to their exposure into range-bound price action. This week Lyft shares were down about 5% and year-to-date the stock has declined 27.5%, vastly underperforming a more modest year-to-date decline of about 9% by Uber (UBER).
• Ortex-reported short interest on Array Technologies (ARRY) troughed at 16.5% in the last week of March and has since been rising steadily over the past two weeks, tracking the uptrend in the stock price which continues to recover large losses following the company’s disappointing results on February 25th. This week, shorts as a percentage of free float increased from 18.3% to 20.8% and days-to-cover on the name rose from 4.4 to 4.9 in spite of the outsized trading volume day on April 17th. The stock was up 6.4% in the five-day period covered but remains down over 12% year-to-date – a middle-of-the-pack performance among its small-cap solar peers.
• A build-up in bearish activity in Avis Budget (CAR) is being rewarded and the short squeeze flows are finally reversing as the stock has plunged nearly 50% this week – even though shares are still up over 70% year-to-date. Ortex-reported short interest on the stock continued to increase from 87.3% to 92.7% in the five-day period covered through Thursday, but this is likely to flip in the days to come as well as bears book profits. Days-to-cover on the name is indicative of the speculative activity in Avis Budget over the past few weeks – it has seen a steep decline from 14.3 late-March highs all the way down to 4.2 in spite of the rapidly rising short interest.

SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest in Tyra Biosciences (TYRA) reached a record high of about 43% late last week, but with shares pulling back over the course of April after more than doubling within a 5-month span, bears are also reducing their exposure. Short interest as a percentage of free float on the stock fell from 42.4% to 28.3% in the five-day period covered and days to cover slipped from 8.3 to 7.7. Tyra Biosciences still advanced 4.5% over the five-session period through Thursday and has now gained over 40% year-to-date, though the stock is down over 10% from its all-time highs on April 1st.
• Ortex-reported reported short interest in SailPoint (SAIL) topped October high of 23% back in December and had since remained at a relatively high level for much of the year with AI disruption fears weighing heavily on identity security software names, but with shares having lost as much as half of their value, bears are also scaling down their positions. This week’s short interest as a percentage of free float on SailPoint fell from 29.1% to a six-week low of 25.9% and days-to-cover on the name slipped from 6.3 to 5.5. The stock was down just 0.7% in the five-day period covered, though year to date, SailPoint has now lost 41%.