According to an S3 Partners report titled “Apple is the New #1 Short” published this week, short interest in Apple has surged to $18.4 billion, exceeding Tesla’s short interest of $17.4 billion.
The financial-analytics firm noted that Apple is now the most heavily shorted US company by dollar amount, finally ousting Elon Musk’s EV company.
Nearly 113 million Apple shares were sold short as of Wednesday, which represents 0.7% of the company’s publicly available shares. On the other hand, there were 57 million Tesla shares sold short, making up about 2.2% of the electric car maker’s float.
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.
