- Investors are gaining more confidence in shorting last year's meme-stock winners, according to data from Koyfin.
- Short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding is up more than 135% in GameStop since late December.
- Other stocks seeing an increase in short interest include AMC Entertainment and Robinhood.
Meme-stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment are seeing a resurgence in short bets against the companies for the first time since just before the 2021 short-squeeze, which saw shares of GameStop soar more than 2,000% and eventually put one hedge fund out of business.
That's according to data from Koyfin, which shows that short interest as a percentage of total shares outstanding has soared more than 135% for GameStop since late December, to about 20% of the company. That means for every five shares of GameStop in existence, one is being borrowed and sold short by an investor.
While 20% is considered a high short interest reading for any company, it is still well below the peak of 108% reached in November 2020, which helped turbocharge GameStop's surge from about $20 to as high as $483 in less than four weeks.
While more and more investors are betting against GameStop, it's stock price is holding up so far, having traded sideways for the past six months at just below $150 today.
A similar setup can be seen in shares of AMC Entertainment, which has seen its short interest surge to 21% over the past few months. AMC Entertainment's short-squeeze rally last June occurred when short interest was at a similar level.
But while GameStop's stock price has held up, being down just 1% year-to-date, AMC Entertainment's stock has fallen 50% over the same time period. That means shorts are winning so far this year, though some retail investors are still holding onto meme-stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment in the hope that another short-squeeze will lead to a massive surge in both companies.
But lightning rarely strikes twice in the stock market, and short bets against meme-stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment would need to jump considerably to fuel another meteoric rise in the consumer-focused companies.
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