Two weeks ago Yandex posted a 79% increase in first-quarter profit and raised its 2013 sales target because of the growth in online advertising. Yandex also said that sales may rise 30% to 35% this year, compared with its forecast in February for 28% to 32% growth. However shorts weren’t too impressed as they increased a little bit in their positions after the earnings were announced.
NYSE & NASDAQ Short Interest Total
Looking over a couple of stocks will not tell us the whole story of what is going on in the market. So lets take a look at what is taking place over at the Nasdaq. Based on the information we see that short interest totaled 7.59 billion shares at the April 30 settlement date, compared with 7.63 billion shares back on April 15, and 7.53 billion at the end of March. The short ratio, or the number of days’ volume represented by outstanding share positions, was 4.46 days of average daily volume, compared with 4.87 days for the previous reporting period.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) based on information received from members and member organizations, had short interest increase to13.51 billion from 13.35 billion on April 15, which is far higher than the 404 million they had on March 28.
Looking over both the Nasdaq and NYSE figures we can see that short interest has been climbing since March. Are shorts preparing themselves to take full advantage of the sell in May go away theory? It looks to be so. So are they right? We will have to see over the coming weeks and months to better determine that question.
Conclusion
Some of these companies mentioned above have high short interest and float rates. Because of this, news good or bad can send these shares flying in one direction or another. Just look what has happened to Netflix over the years. Netflix fell from its 52 week high ($300) two years ago all the way down to $50. Now shares are back up in the $200 range. Talk about a roller coaster ride. Some investors exclusively look for high short interest targets with low floats like Netflix, to try and profit from a major short squeeze. However, investors should be reminded that what goes up, can come down just as fast also.
Short interest can be an important tool for investors if they keep an eye on how short interest is trending. Investors are always reminded that before making any investment, you should do your own proper diligence on any of the stocks mentioned in this article. Any material in this article should be considered general information, and not solely relied upon for making investment decisions.
The article Apple’s Short Interest Doubled: See What Happened to These Other Tech Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Justin Giles.
Justin is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
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