Shorts Are Targeting E&P Stocks

• In a report issued Thursday, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brad Carpenter took a look into short interest in the market as of November 30.
• As per the note, short interest in E&Ps generally surged.

According to a Cantor Fitzgerald report issued Thursday, short interest in oil and gas exploration and production stocks generally rose over the second half of November. Across the 50 companies screened by the firm, the average and median short interest surged 2.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

Over the second half of November, the SIG Oil Exploration & Production (EPX) Index fell by roughly 80 basis points. Over the same period, front month crude rose 2.2 percent and front month natural Henry Hub lost 5.3 percent.

Also over the period comprised between the November 13 and November 30 settlement dates, the stocks that witnessed the largest increases in short interest (as measured by the change in the ratio of float shorted) were:

• Sanchez Energy Corp SN
• Continental Resources, Inc. CLR
• Swift Energy Company SFY
• SM Energy Co SM
• Laredo Petroleum Inc LPI

Out of these stocks, only Continental Resources rose (5.9 percent) between November 13 and November 30.

Source: Cantor Fitzgerald

On the other hand, the following stocks was the largest decreases in short interest over the period:

• Antero Resources Corp AR
• Approach Resources Inc. AREX
• Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. CWEI
• Eclipse Resources Corp ECR
• Callon Petroleum Company CPE

Once again, only one of these names posted positive equity performance between November 13 and November 30: Callon Petroleum.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.