Barb,
The short interest in GUMM began increasing in March 97 and leveled off after reaching nearly 850,000 shares in August 97. Here is the data:
March 97: 183,785
April 97: 325,168
May 97: 506,115
June 97: 635,556
July 97: 681,579
August 97: 839,811
June 99 (current): 915,876
People that I have spoken to about this believe that a hedge fund (or other large investor) heavily shorted the stock between March 97 and August 97. I prefer not to disclose my source of this information, but I will say that they have a reason to know. They also believe that the fund (or large investor) hasn't covered yet and a look at the short interest indicates that this could be true. This scenario is based somewhat on speculation, although it seems logical to me.
The lowest that the short interest has been since August 97 is 685,271 shares in July 98, so the ~500,000 shares held by a single investor (if true) could have still been open. My guess is that a single fund is short nearly 500,000 shares of GUMM and in time, I think they will be proven to be wrong. The stock traded between 9 1/2 and 16 1/2 during the period when they probably shorted (May 97 to August 97), so their average price could be 13 or better. If a single investor is short that much stock, I don't think they will cover unless it gets above 15 for a sustained period.
I don't really care if any of you throw darts at my posts. The difference between me and most of you is that I have rationale for my opinions and am willing to share it. One liners don't fly with me, especially when they are tossed around on the Internet by anonymous aliases or people that have not earned my trust or respect. |
