Short Report: Marathon Digital short positioning reaches 2024 highs

Welcome to this week’s installment of “The Short Interest Report” – The Fly’s weekly recap of short interest trends among some of the most widely followed high-short-float stocks. Using the data from our partner Ortex.com, which utilizes the latest information from stock lenders to estimate short interest changes for thousands of publicly traded companies, this report will screen for some of biggest changes in short interest as a percentage of free float and days-to-cover ratios while also considering the short interest data on some of the more volatile and heavier-traded names of the week. Based on the availability of data from Ortex, the report tracks the trading period that covers prior Friday through Thursday of this week, excluding holidays. As a basis of comparison for stocks discussed below, the S&P 500 index was up 0.2%, the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8%, the Russell 2000 index was up 1.0%, the Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) was up 1.4%, and the Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) was up 0.9% in the five-day trading session range through June 27.

SHORT INTEREST GAINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest in Marathon Digital (MARA) has been dormant in the 23%-25% range for about a month through late last week, though this week has seen some more notable upward movement of three percentage points from the low end to above the high end of that range to about 26% – the highest level in shorts as a percentage of free float in over a year. Marathon Digital stock has also seen a quiet month, with the appetite in the crypto space hardly reflecting the optimism regarding the bitcoin ETF flows – in the five-day period covered through Thursday, Marathon shares are down nearly 5%.
• We profiled the growth in short positioning in Hertz Global (HTZ) two weeks as one coinciding with the decline in the stock price, and while the stock has found some support amid high-volume bounce late last week, bearish appetite on the name has not receded. This week, Ortex-reported shorts as a percentage of free float was up from 30.9% to 35.2% – up for the 3rd consecutive week and the highest level on record. Likewise, days to cover on the stock has hit a three-month high of 4.5 – up from 3.7. Shares of Hertz, meanwhile, were flat in the five-day period through Thursday but remain down heavily year-to-date, falling 66% in 2024.
• Estimated short interest on GroupOn (GRPN) had come in sharply earlier in the month, falling from a 4-month high of about 23% to 19% on June 11th. This week however, shorts as a percentage of free float was notably higher again, rising from 18.7% to 21.8%. The stock has been consolidating gains made in three sessions following the company’s Q1 earnings on May 9th, trading mostly sideways over the past six weeks, though shares were up 2.7% in the five-day period covered through Thursday. Groupon’s 1.7% gain on Friday however also coincided with outsized jump in the stock’s trading volume.

SHORT INTEREST DECLINERS

• Ortex-reported short interest on Medifast (MED) hit a peak above 36.5% late last week following a near-three-month upswing from a multi-month plateau around 20%, though this week has seen a pullback in the short positioning all the way down to 30.5% – the lowest level in two months. Likewise, days to cover on the name plunged from 4.9 all the way down to 2.1. Shares of Medifast have been under pressure for months, having lost 80% since last July’s peak and 68% overall in 2024, with GLP-1 drugs having upended the traditional weight-loss industry solutions, though the stock may have found some brief support, rising about 3% in the five-day period covered through Thursday.
• Estimated short interest in Applied Digital (APLD) reached its highest level for the year at 28% in the first week of May before short covering commencement toward the 20% level in step with a rally in the stock price. June has seen a similar dynamic, though the increase in the short positioning stopped at 27% – short of May’s 2024 highs – and the gains in the stock that ensued for the balance of the month were closely followed by reduced bearish bets. This week, Ortex-reported short interest slipped from 24% all the way down to 18% – an 11-month low, while the stock gained just over 3%. Applied Digital shares are up 160% from April lows, though the stock is still down about 7% year-to-date.