The June data on short interest is in, and it looks like Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) top the list. Meanwhile short sellers started to flee Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) and Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY). This latest data covers settlement dates between June 13 and June 30.
Short interest in eBay grows 15%
Benzinga reports that short interest in eBay grew to almost 21.8 million shares in the second half of June, which is an increase of over 15%. This is the highest number of shares sold short since February and amounts to almost 2% of the online auction company’s float. It will take short sellers approximately two days to cover all of those shares. Despite the bearish view of short sellers, most analysts polled by Thomson / First Call have a Buy rating on eBay, and nearly half of them have eBay listed as a Strong Buy. Return on eBay’s equity is in the negative, although the company is expected to post revenue growth in the double digits in the next couple of quarters. Over the last six month, eBay stock underperformed the NASDAQ but outperformed competitor Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Short interest in Pandora rose 17%
At the end of June, there were approximately 20.4 million shares of Pandora Media sold short, which is over 10% of the float. So far this year, this is the highest level of short interest, and it will take nearly three days for short sellers to cover all of those shares. Analysts are less bullish on Pandora Media than they were on eBay. Of the 31 polled, seven of them have it as a Strong Buy. The general consensus rating on the company is Hold. During the last weeks of June, Pandora’s stock price rose more than 9%, although since then, it has declined by over 11%. The streaming radio provider’s stock has outperformed the S&P 500, the NASDAQ and Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI).
Twitter short interest edges up
Over the last two reporting sessions, short interest in Twitter has been edging upward, hitting approximately 34.5 million shares at the end of June. However, that’s still down from the 50 million shares that were sold short in April when the company’s stock peaked after its initial public offering. The current number of shares sold short is over 10% of the float. It will take a little over a day for short sellers to cover all of their position. One by one, analysts started flipping on Twitter as the company’s stock climbed higher and higher after its IPO. Now the general consensus rating on Twitter is a Hold, and it’s been there for at least the past three months. Unsurprisingly, Twitter has underperformed peers Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and LinkedIn Corp (NASDAQ:LNKD).
