Short Sellers Stock Up On Hostess Brands

• Short sellers loaded up on this snack maker in the most recent period.
• The company only began to trade publicly last month.
• The share price rose handily during between the most recent settlement dates.

Hostess Brands, Inc. TWNK, maker of the iconic Twinkie snack cake, rose from the dead in June of 2013, and shares began trade publicly last month. And judging by the surge in the number of shares short in the most recent period, short sellers think they have found something tasty in the stock.

Between the November 15 and November 30 settlement dates, the Kansas City-based bakery company saw the number of its shares short jump around 163 percent to about 2.29 million. The short interest has risen for four periods in a row, and at the most recently average daily trading volume, it would take about three days to cover all short positions.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey started shares at Buy on their first day of trading. The share price ended the two-week short interest period more than 5 percent higher, though it was up about 8 percent at one point. The Nasdaq was up a bit less than 1 percent in that time. Hostess Brands has pulled back about 2 percent since the beginning of this month. The two analysts polled by Thomson/First Call recommend buying shares.

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