Electric car companies Lucid, Fisker, and Nikola had a difficult year. Wall Street believes that these stocks will have an even greater downside potential. Lucid, according to FactSet data, is the most heavily-shorted stock in Wall Street. As of August 15, 191,5 million shares were sold short. These short bets represented more than 47% (or the number of Lucid shares that are available for trading) of Lucid’s free float. Nikola, a manufacturer of electric trucks, saw its short interest increase by nearly 14%, to 157.7 millions shares or 27.3%. Fisker, a startup EV company, has seen its short interest decline 4.9%, to 81.6 millions shares, or 42.7%, but the company remains the third most shorted stock in Wall Street. All three EV stocks have declined for the year. Nikola shares are now selling for just over $1 per share, a drop of nearly 39% since 2023. Stocks have fallen 51% since August, after the company had to recall its battery-electric trucks earlier in the month. Fisker has lost 17% of its value, while Lucid has dropped 7%. A number of small-cap health care companies were also included on the list. Wall Street has shorted more than 15.5 million Arcutis Biotherapeutics shares, which is over a third. Stocks rose 10.6% at midday on Tuesday, after Arcutis released its first television advertisement for an acne treatment. The shares are down 40% for the year. IGM Biosciences, scPharmaceuticals, and other companies also saw a rise in short interest of about 10%. This translates to approximately 6 million shares per company, or 29%. Intercept Pharmaceuticals, a liver disease treatment company, also saw an increase of 12% in short interest. 9.5 million shares were sold short. The company suffered a setback in June after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied an application to accelerate approval of a liver disease treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. The company announced that it would stop all NASH investments and restructure operations to focus on serious and rare liver diseases in order to accelerate a path towards profitability beginning 2024. Intercept CEO Jerry Durso stated in a press release that “taking action to reshape Intercept” will improve Intercept’s long-term capability to grow its business, innovate for the patients, and create shareholder value. Intercept shares are down 13% since 2023. The following is a list of all the stocks that were shorted between July 31 and 15 August. These names are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq and have a market value of at least 100 million dollars. At least 25% of the float is taken up by short positions. Some of these stocks may rally if August’s sell off ends and does not extend into September due to a “short squeeze” caused by investors purchasing back the stock they sold short.
