The information technology sector, which holds the highest weightage on the S&P, saw a marginal decrease in short bets during mid-January as compared to December. Average short interest across S&P 500 information technology stocks was 1.35% in mid-January.
The S&P 500’s information technology sector (NYSEARCA:XLK) is up 4% YTD, compared to 2.9% gain of the broader S&P 500.
Industry Analysis:
Average short interest as a percentage of floating shares
IT Services continues to be the most shorted industry within the information technology sector with 2.30% short interest as of mid-January, compared to 2.32% at the end of 2023.
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment was the second most shorted industry within the sector with 1.96% short interest as of mid-January, down from 2.08% in December 2023.
Stocks with the largest and least short positions.
Enphase Energy (ENPH) was the most shorted information technology stock, with 9.4M shares sold short as of 12th January 2024, or 7.16% of the shares float.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) was the second-most-shorted information technology stock at 6.31% of shares float, followed by Seagate Technologies (STX) with short interest of 5.52% and On Semiconductor (ON) with 5.51%.
Apple (AAPL) is the least shorted stock, with 101.26M shares sold short or 0.66% of the shares float, followed by Microsoft (MSFT) and Motorola Solutions (MSI) with short interest of 0.70% and 0.73% respectively.
