Short sales in some of the most popular meme stocks dropped by double-digit percentages in the two-week short interest reporting period that ended on June 15. Five of six companies we watch saw big drops in short interest, and the sixth had no change. These and other meme stocks are quite volatile, and big share price swings can come from news or chatter among millions of small retail investors. All six of these stocks posted share price increases during the period, with gains running from less than 1% to more than 100%.<\/p>\n
AMC International Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) short interest dropped by 17% in the two-week period ended June 15. About 85.1 million shares, 17% of the total float, are short, and days to cover remained at one. The share price skyrocketed by 126% in the two weeks as meme stock investors had another go at short sellers. The stock’s 52-week range is $1.91 to $72.62, and shares closed down 2.7% on Thursday at $56.70 and traded down about 2% in Friday’s premarket session.<\/p>\n
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) short sellers cut their positions by 19% over the two-week reporting period. Nearly 17% of the company’s stock is sold short, a total of 9.67 million shares. Days to cover remained at one. The stock spiked to post a gain of more than 35% on June 9, but ended the reporting period nearly flat, with a gain of 0.2%. The stock’s 52-week range is $3.77 to $483.00, and shares closed Thursday down 3.2% at $212.31 and traded up about 1.2% in Friday’s premarket.<\/p>\n
Clover Health Investments Corp. (NASDAQ: CLOV) short interest was unchanged for the two weeks. Short sales total 41.4 million shares or 36.7% of the stock’s total float. Days to cover fell from four to one, and the share price soared by 80% in the two-week period. The stock’s 52-week range is $6.31 to $28.85 and shares closed Thursday at $13.79, down less than 1% for the day. Shares traded down about 1.7% in Friday’s premarket session.<\/p>\n
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) saw a drop of 24% in short interest in the two weeks ended June 15. Just 3.7% of the stock’s total float — 52.3 million shares — were sold short, and days to cover remained at one. The stock’s 52-week trading range is\u00a0 $8.90 to $45.00, and the stock closed up about 1% on Thursday at $26.53. Shares traded down by less than 1% in Friday’s premarket. Over the past two weeks, the stock has added about 6.4% to its price.<\/p>\n
BlackBerry Ltd. (NYSE: BB) experienced a drop of 20% in short interest over the two-week reporting period. Short sales total 37.73 million shares and currently account for about 6.8% of BlackBerry’s total float. The stock dropped 3.5% on Thursday to close at $12.68 and traded down about 3.2% in Friday’s premarket session. The stock has added about 39% to its price in the two weeks ended June 15, and days to cover have dropped to one.<\/p>\n
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) saw short interest drop by 25% in the two-week period. Days to cover dropped to two. Some 34.3 million shares are currently sold short, nearly 21% of the total float. The stock rose about 11.7% over the two-week period. Shares closed down about 1.4% on Thursday at $40.26 and have jumped by more than 19% in Friday’s premarket following Federal Aviation Administration approval to fly passengers.<\/p>\n