Short interest from WSJ:
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition -- October 27, 1997
Short Interest in Nasdaq Issues
Increases 7.1% in Latest Month
By EILEEN KINSELLA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK -- Short interest rose 7.1% in the latest month on the Nasdaq
Stock Market, marking the largest such percentage increase since October
1993.
The total, which includes Nasdaq small-capitalization and
large-capitalization stocks, rose to 1,691,552,124 shares on Oct. 15 from a
revised 1,578,746,305 shares in mid-September, according to the National
Association of Securities Dealers, which runs Nasdaq.
On the Nasdaq Small-Cap Market, which is
made up of the 1,477 smaller-cap stocks, short
interest fell 2.3%. Short interest increased 7.5%
for the 4,191 larger-cap stocks on the Nasdaq
National Market.
Traders who sell securities "short" borrow
shares and then sell them, betting they can profit by buying the stock back
later at lower prices. Short interest is the number of shares that haven't been
repurchased for return to lenders. As such, it is often taken as an indicator
of the degree of negative sentiment among investors in the stocks. Investors
also may rely on short selling for other purposes, including as a hedging
strategy related to corporate mergers and acquisitions, for convertible
securities and options, and for tax purposes.
The Nasdaq National Market's short-interest ratio fell to 2.45 days from a
revised 2.66 days in the previous month. The short-interest ratio for the
smaller stocks also decreased to 0.76 from a revised 0.98. The ratio is the
number of trading days that would be required to close out the short
positions through share purchases and is considered a measure of trading
sentiment.
The following companies had the largest decreases in short interest:
Tele-Communications A TCI Group, down 7,734,108 shares to
30,488,748 shares; Comcast Class A special, down 3,141,866 shares to
2,255,101 shares, and VLSI Technologies Inc., down 2,829,914 shares to
1,357,992.
These companies had the largest increases in short interest: WorldCom Inc.,
up 25,771,852 shares to 70,257,529 shares; Intel Corp., up 7,705,658
shares to 32,444,057 shares; and Corporate Express Inc., up 4,596,494
shares to 9,940,082.
Among companies with the largest short interest positions, Ascend
Communications Inc. was up 2,383,069 shares to 22,087,641; Nextel
Communications Inc. A was up 255,901 shares to 21,469,733 shares; and
Apple Computer Inc. was up 1,066,577 shares to 20,105,130. |
