8 Latest Short Seller Targets

Traders often use changes in short interest to identify potential short squeeze candidates or look for potential technical inflection points. Other times, a rise in short interest can be a red flag about a piece of fundamental news or an upcoming catalyst.

S3 Partners analyst Ihor Dusaniwsky published his latest list Friday of U.S. stocks that have endured the largest increase in their outstanding short positions over the past week.

The S&P 500 has slumped, and Dusaniwsky said short sellers have been very active.

“Overall, we saw $2.2 billion in net short selling this week as short sellers increased their short exposure on two-thirds of the 8,501 stocks that we covered this week,” he said in a note. 

Stocks with the largest increases in the dollar value of their short positions are the ones getting the most attention from short sellers.

Latest Short Seller Targets

Here’s a list of the eight most aggressively shorted stocks of the past week, sorted by S3’s estimates of the increase in their outstanding short positions in that time.

Blackstone Group Inc (NYSE: BX), $596.6-million increase.

Visa Inc (NYSE: V), $420-million increase.

Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX), $331.5-million increase.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), $267.2-million increase.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), $252-million increase.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY), $241.5-million increase.

NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE), $217.3-million increase.

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE), $197.7-million increase.

Benzinga’s Take

The top two most aggressively shorted stocks last week were Blackstone and Visa, both financial sector stocks. Before jumping to any conclusions about potential underlying weakness, investors should watch to see if the short selling pressures persist in subsequent weeks.

Do you agree with this take? Email feedback@benzinga.com with your thoughts.

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