It’s hard being a trader shorting stocks.Short sellers, or investors betting that the price of a stock will go down, have to overcome unexpected fees, as well as simple math: you can only ever make 100% on a short position, but your losses are potentially infinite.
And just this morning, SodaStream, a stock that is heavily shorted, saw shares pop after Bloomberg reported the company was in talks to go private.
But this doesn’t stop traders from taking their best shot.
Year-to-date, all of the major stock indexes are higher, with the Nasdaq gaining more than 7.5% and the benchmark S&P 500 adding 7%. Despite these broad gains, we’ve found 30 stocks with market caps larger than $ 2 billion that people are betting against like crazy.
On the list, of course, is Herbalife, the company that hedge funder Bill Ackman has accused of being a pyramid scheme.
Other high-profile companies on the list include electric carmaker Tesla and yoga apparel maker lululemon.
This list, however, also exhibits two major themes: China and solar energy.
We ranked the stock by short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding, going from the least shorted to the most.
Sunedison
Ticker: SUNE
Short interest: 25.5%
YTD return: 66.5%
Sector: Solar Energy
Comment: Sunedison, which makes solar panels and semiconductor materials, recently announced an agreement with Community Energy to complete a Colorado solar power plant project.
data from FinViz
Tesla Motors
Short interest: 25.6%
YTD return: 48%
Sector: Electric Vehicles
Comment: Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the company would make its patents availabe for free use, saying the company’s competitors were not other electric carmakers but any company making a car that runs on gasoline.
data from FinViz
JD.com
Short interest: 25.7%
Return since IPO: 36%
Sector: Online Retail
Comment: JD.com went public in May, and on its first day of trading, the stock rose 15%.
data from FinViz
SunPower
Short interest: 26.3%
YTD return: 28.6%
Sector: Solar Energy
Comment: SunPower is set to release Q2 results on July 31, with analysts expecting the company to report a profit of $ 0.26 per share on revenue of $ 623.54 million.
data from FinViz
Cablevision
Short interest: 26.4%
YTD return: 7%
Sector: Cable Service Providers
Comment: Cablevision’s CEO is James Dolan, who also serves as executive chairman of The Madison Square Garden Company and is the principal owner of the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.
data from FinViz
Veeva Systems
Ticker: VEEV
Short interest: 26.5%
YTD return: -24.8%
Sector: Healthcare Services
Comment: On July 10, two Veeva Systems directors, Young Sohn and Kevin Spain, stepped down from the company’s board.
data from FinViz
U.S. Steel
Short interest: 26.7%
YTD return: -5.7%
Sector: Basic Materials
Comment: On June 27, S&P announced that U.S. Steel would be removed from the S&P 500 in favor of Martin Marietta Materials. U.S. Steel joined the S&P MidCap 400 after the close on July 1.
data from FinViz
Mallinckrodt
Short interest: 27.3%
YTD return: 46.4%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Comment: In April, the company announced an agreement to acquire Questcor Pharmaceuticals, a company that appears later on this list, in a deal worth $ 5.6 billion.
data from FinViz
Santander Consumer USA
Short interest: 27.6%
Return since IPO: -20.6%
Sector: Financials
Comment: Santander made its debut on the NYSE on Jan. 23, and investors are already betting against the consumer lender.
data from FinViz
J.C. Penney
Short interest: 27.7%
YTD return: -1.6%
Sector: Department Stores
Comment: J.C. Penney was one of the biggest stories of 2013, and in 2014 has seen performance recover, reporting same-store sales that grew 6.2% in the first quarter.
data from FinViz
Invensense
Short interest: 27.8%
YTD return: 28.4%
Sector: Technology
Comment: On July 7, InvenSense announced a deal to acquire Movea, which makes motion-tracking software, for $ 81 million.
data from FinViz
58.com
Short interest: 28.1%
YTD Return: 33.5%
Comment: 58.com, which operates an online local merchant marketplace in China, recently announced an agreement to take a 19.9% stake in Chinese internet services provider Tencent for $ 736 million.
data from FinViz
Herbalife
Short interest: 28.2%
YTD return: -16.4%
Sector: Consumer Goods
Comment: Bill Ackman recently gave a massive presentation outlining some of his new findings at the company he is famously short. The stock rallied in response.
data from FinViz
Theravance
Short interest: 28.6%
YTD return: -32.1%
Sector: Biopharmaceuticals
Comment: Theravance and its partner GlaxoSmithKline announced on July 1 that they were seeking expanded use for their respiratory drug, Breo Ellipta, from the U.S. FDA.
data from FinViz
MannKind
Short interest: 28.7%
YTD return: 82.7%
Sector: Biopharmaceuticals
Comment: On June 27, the company announced that its Afrezza diabetes treatment received FDA approval.
data from FinViz
GameStop
Short interest: 29.4%
YTD return: -7.1
Sector: Retail
Comment: A bet against this stock has been a bet against video game sales, and in the first quarter the company reported new software sales declined 20.4%.
data from FinViz
Ubiquiti Networks
Short interest: 29.7%
YTD return: -11.7%
Sector: Information Technology
Comment: On May 29, the company announced a $ 75 million share repurchase program.
data from FinViz
Questcor
Short interest: 30%
YTD return: 78.3%
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Comment: In April, Questcor and Mallinckrodt announced an agreement to merge in a deal expected to close during the third quarter. The New York Times noted, however, there are pretty big risks associated with Questcor’s Achtar immune-system drug.
data from FinViz
GT Advanced Technologies
Short interest: 30.4%
YTD return: 72.4%
Sector: Industrial Machinery
Comment: GT Advanced shares fell about 5% earlier this month after CLSA analyst Mark Heller cut his outlook for sapphire production, reported Theflyonthewall.com.
data from FinViz
3D Systems
Short interest: 31%
YTD return: -42.6%
Sector: Printing Technology
Comment: 3D Systems went crazy in 2013, gaining more than 170%, but in January hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson said the stock could tumble 90%. So far, his bet is working out.
data from FinViz
Jumei International
Short interest: 31.3%
Return since IPO: 21.8%
Sector: Consumer Products
Comment: Jumei, which is a China-based online retailer of beauty products, made its debut on the NYSE on May 16.
data from FinViz
Autohome
Ticker: ATHM
Short interest: 31.6
YTD return: -7.6%
Sector: Auto Dealers
Comment: Autohome, which sells cars online in China, announced an agreement with Baidu last month to enhance search results for computers running Baidu’s Aladdin platform.
data from FinViz
Zillow
Short interest: 31.8%
YTD return: 54.3%
Sector: Real Estate
Comment: Short-selling blog Citron Research recently published another report criticizing the company’s recent deal with Douglas Elliman Real Estate, a large residential broker in New York City.
data from FinViz
BlackBerry
Short interest: 31.8%
YTD return: 37.5%
Sector: Technology
Comment: BlackBerry shares have been on a tear since the handset maker reported earnings last month that showed it turned a $ 0.04 per share profit in the first quarter.
data from FinViz
Cliffs Natural Resources
Ticker: CLF
Short interest: 32.2%
YTD return: -40.8%
Sector: Materials
Comment: Coal stocks have been getting killed amid a slowdown in China and increased regulation in the U.S. In April, the company reported first quarter revenue that fell 18%.
data from FinViz
SolarCity
Short interest: 32.5%
YTD return: 26.5%
Sector: Renewable Energy
Comment: In June, SolarCity announced plans to build one of the world’s largest solar plants in upstate New York. The company’s chairman is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, another company that appears on this list.
data from FinViz
Lululemon
Short interest: 37%
YTD return: -34%
Sector: Athletic Apparel
Comment: The yoga apparel company’s founder, Chip Wilson, who stepped down as chairman of the board in December, is working with Goldman Sachs to get control of the company back. Wilson is Lululemon’s largest shareholder.
data from FinViz
Amtrust Financial Systems
Short interest: 39.7%
YTD return: 25.8%
Sector: Insurance
Comment: Amtrust Financial has increased gross written insurance premiums 36% each year over the past five, but some have begun to wonder if the company can sustain its growth.
data from FinViz
Zulily
Short interest: 50.4%
YTD return: -12.6%
Sector: Online Retail
Comment: Zulily is a daily deals site for moms, and we recently toured its Seattle offices. In May, the company reported sales that grew 87% in the first quarter and raised its fiscal-year revenue expectations.
data from FinViz
Myriad Genetics
Ticker: MYGN
Short interest: 51.1%
YTD return: 78%
Sector: Biopharmaceuticals
Comment: Myriad, a molecular diagnostics company, reported third quarter revenue that rose 19% to $ 176.2 million, and on June 9, the CFO James Evans announced his retirement.
data from FinViz
