Big Short Interest On These 5 Biotech Stocks

Rumor has it that if the S&P 500 finishes its first five trading days of the year with a gain, then the year in question will -- 80 percent of the time -- end with a gain as well.

Last Thursday, January 8’s rally gave the S&P that five-day gain; just barely, but it was a gain nonetheless. However, since that day, the market has seen a decent amount of weakness.

The biotech arena continues to be a strong one, even in the face of that recent market weakness, but some biotech names are starting to see steady increases in short interest.

Investors looking to get short a few biotech names in preparation for a potential sell-off might find interest in the biotech stocks that have the highest level of short interest.

On the other hand, those looking for a “short squeeze” to get long in a few biotechs might have interest in the same stocks.

Below is a list of the top five biotech stocks with the highest short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding.

5^th Place: Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The biotech stock with the fifth highest level of short interest would be Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEGR).

 

Aegerion’s short interest currently sits at a little over 25 percent of shares outstanding. The stock closed at $22.13 January 9 and is trading around $22.44 at the time of this writing.

2^nd Place: Triple Tie

Exact Sciences There is essentially a 3-way tie for second place, starting with Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAS).

Exact Sciences is approaching its 52-week high after closing out on Friday, January 9 at $29.16/share. It is currently trading around $27.15 at the time of this writing.

Sarepta Therapeutics Next in the 3-way tie would be Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRPT).

Sarepta simply looks like a stock few are interested in being long in. The stock is starting the week at $13.95/share and is at the time of this article trading around $11.88.

Amag Pharmaceuticals The third member of the 3-way tie comes from Amag Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG).

Just like Exact Sciences, Amag had been approaching a new high as well before getting hit pretty hard January 9. It is currently trading at $42.53 at the time of this writing.

All three of the stocks mentioned above have a short interest percentage of just around 32 percent.

1^st Place: Myriad Genetics

Finally, the biotech stock currently having the highest amount of short interest is Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN).

Over 40 percent of Myriad’s outstanding shares are in short position. The stock closed on January 9 at $38.10 and is at this time trading around $38.99.

Obviously, investors must conduct their own due diligence before investing in any stock; the biotech stocks considered for this review were confined to those over $5 per share that traded at least 500K shares a day based on a 90-day average.