Short Report: Nordstrom shorts cover on new take-private reports

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 down 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.5%, the Russell 2000 index was up 1.8%, the Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) was up 1.8%, and the Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) was up 1.7% in the five-day trading session range through May 2.

SHORT INTEREST GAINERS

• Estimated short interest in Children’s Place (PLCE) continues to trend higher, rising for the fourth consecutive week to the highest levels since the first week of March. We mentioned the name two weeks ago as bears began to scale up their positions once the stock’s 16% spike on the news of a $90M financing agreement struck on April 17th did not hold. This week, shorts as a percentage of free float in the name was up from 36.2% to 40.3%, bid-to-cover was up 30bps to 2.5, and shares rose about 13%.
• Ortex-reported short interest in CompoSecure (CMPO) is up for the second consecutive week, rising from 34% to about 37% as of Thursday – the highest level since the last week of February. Short positioning on the name was cut sharply in the first week of March when the company’s Q4 results outperformed expectations and shares spiked 25%. The stock is trading near 2024 highs and up over 30% year-to-date as the bears are betting that next week’s earnings won’t produce quite the same level of impact given the run-up. In the five-day period covered, CompoSecure shares were up 8%.
• Estimated short interest in C3.ai (AI) is nudging higher this week, rising from 31.5% to 33.7% – the highest level in about two months. The stock has been on a rollercoaster ride this year, spiking 25% in late February following smaller than expected Q4 earnings loss and driving a sharp retreat in short positioning from 35% to 25% over the subsequent week. C3.ai gave all of those gains and more over the next six weeks however, falling 45% in the span of six weeks. With the stock up about 17% from those lows over the second half of April and up about 4.5% in the five-day period through Thursday, bears are gradually renewing their bets.

SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest on Nordstrom (JWN) briefly rose to two month-highs above 22.5% early in the week before slipping back to April lows at 18.5%. Shares jumped over 6% this week on reports that Sycamore Partners has expressed interest in taking the company private, which follows last month’s news and ownership filing that CEO Erik Nordstrom and his brother were also exploring options to take the retailer private. Nordstrom is also up nearly 20% from mid-March lows, when news that the family is seeking to take department store operator private first emerged.
• Estimated short interest in Luminar (LAZR) had reached the highest level since the first week of March late last week, rising just above 28%. Short positioning has slipped down to 26% as of Thursday of this week however as the company gets set to report its Q1 results on Tuesday. Luminar shares have been volatile this year and also this week. The stock is down 50% year to date but up 10% this week through Thursday. Shares were also up 12% in Friday’s session amid broader market bounce but fell 9% afterhours following the announcement of a mixed shelf filing.