30 Stocks Traders Are Shorting Like Crazy
Short sellers, or investors betting that the price of a stock will go down, have to overcome unexpected fees, as well as simple math: you can only ever make 100% on a short position, but your losses are potentially infinite.
And just this morning, SodaStream, a stock that is heavily shorted, saw shares pop after Bloomberg reported the company is in talks to go private.
But this doesn't stop traders from taking their best shot.
Year-to-date, all of the major stock indexes are higher, with the Nasdaq gaining more than 7.5% and the benchmark S&P 500 adding 7%. Despite these broad gains, we've found 30 stocks with market caps larger than $2 billion that people are betting against like crazy.
On the list, of course, is Herbalife, the company that hedge funder Bill Ackman has accused of being a pyramid scheme.
Other high-profile companies on the list include electric carmaker Tesla and yoga apparel maker lululemon.
This list, however, also exhibits two major themes: China and solar energy.
We ranked the stock by short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding, going from the least shorted to the most.