5 Most Shorted Stocks in the World

3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 153

Shares Shorted as of August 30: 38.62 million

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google and Google subsidiaries, is one of the most shorted stocks in the world. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is navigating employee tensions, as CEO Sundar Pichai suggested earlier this month that he wanted Google to be 20% more productive, which might lead to product-line innovation and macro conditions might result in job cuts. As of August 30, over 38 million Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares had been shorted. 

Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth on August 3 raised the price target on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to $186 from $183 and kept a Strong Buy rating on the shares, citing his view that the Q2 results attest to the strength of its core business in Cloud and Search. Moreover, continuous investment in Artificial Intelligence is driving “increasingly focused and helpful experiences for users and businesses,” the analyst added.

Among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 153 funds were long Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 160 funds in the prior quarter. Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management is the leading position holder in the company, with roughly 2.5 million shares worth $5.4 billion. 

Here is what Madison Funds specifically said about Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) continues to perform well, but the price-to-earnings multiple contracted considerably due to concerns about the potential for revenue to be more economically sensitive than it has been historically given the vast size of the business today. Similarly, Adobe and Accenture continue to report strong sales growth, but performance has moderated a bit relative to the extremely robust results generated over the last year or so. In all three cases, we think that the longer-term outlook remains excellent.”