Significant short interest in Marks and Spencer rose from 0.8% in August 2016 to 7.37% on 3rd of April 2017, putting Marks and Spencer on MostShorted‘s radar.(*) Interestingly, there are no dominant short position holders. Instead, the overall short position in Marks and Spencer is rather evenly split among 10 position holders, with largest shorts being held by Marshall Wace (1.1%) and Lone Pine Capital (0.99%). In spite of these shorting activities not much effect has been seen on the stock price which remained relatively flat since year’s start.
Short Interest in Marks and Spencer on rise
Speciality Retailers Shorts
Marks and Spencer currently tops our list of the most shorted European Speciality Retailers. Among top 5 most shorted in this category are 1 Italian, 1 Swedish and 3 UK retailers. Short interest in all top 5 companies from the list has significantly risen in the past 12 months.
Most Shorted Speciality Retailers Europe
YOOX Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP), Italy-based online luxury fashion retailer, is 2nd on this list with an overall short of 4.56%. This short is divided among 4 funds, with the largest short held by AQR (1.6%). YNAP shares are down about 15% in Q1’17 and difficult environment and competition fears have been cited as reasons for this decline.
Halfords Group, a UK retailer of car parts, is 3rd most shorted stock and is followed by Pets at Home, UK’s pet supplies retailer, and Swedish Byggmax. While Pets at Home shares were down more than 20% in Q1’17, Halfords Group and Byggmax shares remained relatively unchaged.
(*) Data presented in this note is limited to significant short positions which at least equal 0.5% of company issued capital. Data presented is as of April 3rd, 2017.
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