“Short sellers have circled Apple on the eve of the tech giant’s highly-anticipated iPhone launch, with the tech giant becoming America’s most bet-against company,” James Titcomb reports for The Telegraph.
“Short interest in the company has surpassed bets against Amazon and Tesla in dollar terms recent days, as traders predict that the share price surge that recently made Apple the world’s first trillion-dollar company will not last,” Titcomb reports. “Short sellers ‘borrow’ shares and sell them, predicting that they will be able to profit from a fall in a company’s share price by buying the shares back more cheaply in future.”
“Almost $10bn (£7.7bn) worth of Apple shares are now out on loan after a recent increase in shorting, according to data from S3 Partners,” Titcomb reports. “Although the shorting represents only a fraction of Apple’s $1.05 trillion market value, traders are now deploying more capital against the company than other targets. Short interest in Apple, which now totals $9.8bn, surpassed Amazon’s $9.6bn and Tesla’s $8.7bn last week.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you think Apple’s growth prospects are fading, you’re delusional. Seek professional help.
Hubris!
Titanic…
“The Unsinkable!”
Hubris!
If previous Apple launches are any indication of what will happen this time around, the short sellers might make some money over the next couple of days because AAPL generally rises in anticipation of a product announcement and then falls back once it’s been announced, then when sanity returns to the market and people understand what has been announced, AAPL rises once again.
However, that pattern is not always followed and once in a while, the short sellers get their fingers burnt when there is no dip.
Actually, Tesla is the most shorted stock in the US.
With Apple buybacks, this might not be a good idea.
Disingenuous BS. 0.87% of AAPL is held in a short position. It’s only because Apple is so valuable that the headline can be made to sound d dramatic (using total dollars held short).
25.66% of TSLA is held short. So, as a percentage……
Always interesting to see the headlines on roll out day:
If lines are long, Apple is reported to have problems with manufacturing/supply line/quality/yields (stock dips)
If short lines on first day, then Apple reported to have overestimated demand, early reviews poor, everyone wants android, blah blah (stock dips)
There is always short interest around the iPhone announcement, but seems moronic given an obvious iPhone super-cycle. A lot of people are going to upgrade from the iPhone X to a bigger screen – this is going to dwarf the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus.
One note of caution, there’s a SUPERTYPHOON with 143 MPH winds headed towards Shenzen where Foxcon is located – so this can be played to knock the Apple stock price event though we know the new iPhones have already shipped.
I have a feel that this years announcment is going to be very impressive and comprehensive..
And if the 6.1 is priced aggressively it will be a bomb… opening up doors for marketshare increase and expanding Apples users base.. which will bode well for services and subscriptions aswell.
If im right i dont see the stock taking a hit like it normally has after product snnouncnents in recent years.
Uh, not so much today. AAPL up 2.53% or $5.52. I guess the shorts of Friday and yesterday are taking it in the shorts! Good!