Short Interest Soared in These Five NASDAQ Stocks in Late-May

#3 Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL)

– Increase in short interest in the period between May 13-May31: 83.1%

– Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 16

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $57.06 million

Moving on, the number of hedge funds covered by us long Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL) inched down by two and the aggregate value of their holdings in it fell by 42.8% during the first quarter. Notable investors that reduced their stake in the company during that period included billionaire Chuck Royce‘s Royce & Associates, which, despite lowering its holding in the company by 76% to 805,900 shares, remained the largest shareholder of Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ:FINL) among funds covered by us at the end of March. Shares of the athletic footwear retailer suffered a big drop in late-May and owing largely to it are currently trading down 3.88% year-to-date. The company is expected to report its fiscal 2017 first quarter numbers on June 24 and the consensus among analysts includes EPS of $0.22 on revenue of $451.40 million. For the same quarter of the previous financial year, Finish Line reported EPS of $0.30 on revenue of $443.39 million.

#2 Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU)

– Increase in short interest in the period between May 13-May31: 84%

– Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 72

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $4.82 billion

The stock of Chinese search giant Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) rose by over 13% during the second-half of may. However, traders weren’t expecting this rally to sustain itself and shorted the stock in droves, causing Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU)’s short interest to jump by 84% to 3.3% of its float. The performance of the stock so far in June suggests that traders took the right call by shorting the stock during that period as the stock has fallen nearly 8% this month and currently trades down 14.5% year-to-date. On June 7, the company revealed that it led a $300 million investment in Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:BITA), a content and marketing services provider for China’s automotive industry. The ownership of  Baidu among funds covered by us increased by 17 and the aggregate value of their holdings in it swelled by $631 million during the first quarter. However, there were also a few firms, including Steve Cohen‘s Point72 Asset Management, which became bearish on the company and sold their entire stakes during that period.

#1 Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPWH)

– Increase in short interest in the period between May 13-May31: 111.7%

– Investors with long positions (as of March 31): 13

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings (as of March 31): $27.05 million

The short interest in Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPWH) more than doubled to  a whopping 11.3% of its float during the second-half of May. Shares of the company saw a massive decline of 24% during that month and are currently trading down 36.24% year-to-date. On April 12, the company announced a secondary public offering of 5 million shares on behalf of selling shareholders, which analysts attribute as the main reason for the slump in the stock over the past two months. On May 24, Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPWH) reported its fiscal 2016 first quarter numbers, declaring EPS of $0.27 on revenue of $212.70 million versus analysts’ projections of EPS of $0.25 on revenue of $206.79 million. During the first quarter, both the ownership of the company among funds covered by us and the aggregate value of their holdings in it remained largely unchanged.

Disclosure: None