The recent trend shows that investors are betting more money against Apple as compared to Tesla for the first time since April 2020. Partners revealed in a report titled “Apple is the New #1 Short” on Wednesday.
Short interest in Apple has surged to $18.4 billion, exceeding Tesla’s short interest of $17.4 billion, the financial-analytics firm said. The iPhone maker is now the most heavily shorted US company by dollar amount, after Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company held that title for 864 days, it added.
Apple Inc has recently recaptured the crown
Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director of Predictive Analytics at S3 Partners commented in a research report, “Tesla Inc has held the top spot in the short interest league tables for 864 days, almost two and a half years since April 2020 but Apple Inc has recently recaptured the crown.”
As of Wednesday, around 113 million Apple shares were sold short, which represents 0.7 percent of Apple’s shares publicly available. On the other hand, around 57 million Tesla shares sold short which means about 2.2 percent of Musk’s float.
People are witnessing price increases practically everywhere
Short interest in Tesla has been volatile since 2020, climbing as high as $51 billion and dropping as low as $6.5 billion, S3 said. Meanwhile, Apple’s short interest has ranged between $8 billion and $20 billion over the same period.
Short interest shows how many dollars are being wagered against a stock, and often indicates traders’ conviction that its price will fall. However, it can also reflect portfolio hedging or wider short selling in the market.
Citing data from Apptopia, which is an app intelligence company, people are witnessing price increases practically everywhere, with the consumer price index in the United States rising 8.5 percent year over year.