Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Apple Inc And Micron Stock- Short Interest Update

The latest Short Interest data is out. Find out where the key counters of AMD stock, Apple stock and Micron stock stand.

flickr

With 2017 coming to an end, the last round of official short interest numbers for the fortnight ending December 15 has been made available yesterday evening. Before the calendar year comes to close, investors would be eager to know who holds the upper hand on their investments, the bulls or the bears, heading into 2018. And, in all likelihood, with the latest turn of events, Dr. Lisa Su led chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Cupertino tech behemoth Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Sanjay Mehrotra led memory chip specialist Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) would certainly fall in the category of the most keenly watched counters for the short interest data. So, let’s now take a look at where these three stocks stand with respect to short interest.

Shorts still stay put on Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) stock as short interest cools off only marginally.

It seems AMD stock will end 2017 on a low note with the share price being down more than 7% in the year-to-date after soaring in the first half of the year. The latest crash in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices last week had put AMD shares under further pressure making it the biggest loser among the S&P 500 stocks on that day. The cryptocurrency mining has been a strong tailwind for AMD this year which many expect to fade come 2018. In spite of strong last quarter results, AMD stock is on a downward trend on account of high expectations. At the same time, the technical set up for AMD stock also has not improved much. Now, AMD stock is facing resistance at its short term 20-day moving average.

Coming to short interest numbers, the bears are still in control of the stock who have taken the upper hand since the company’s last quarter earnings. For the latest fortnight, short interest in AMD shares have only dropped by a minuscule 0.3% and it still holds the unwanted tag of one of the topmost shorted stock on Nasdaq in terms of the number of shares shorted. Short interest fell to 176.54 million shares from 177.02 million shares at the end of November. As a percentage of float, short interest in AMD stock is still very high, coming in at 19.6%. The days to cover was at 4 days, which is also high. AMD short interest is still hovering near the record highs with no respite for the AMD bulls.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock short interest sees a big spike.

Apple stock saw a minor correction this week after the reports of Tim Cook led company suppressing performance of some of its older models came to light. This slowdown controversy has got the iPhone maker a lot of negative press along with few lawsuits filed against it. The latest turn of events has made the investor sentiment around AAPL stock little dull heading into 2018 with some having concern about the stock’s prospects next year. However, in our recent coverage of Apple stock, we had highlighted how the company’s shares may still outperform going ahead. Amidst the recent weakness, there have been some major signals from the AAPL stock technical chart. The correction earlier this week has lead to some bearish signals with the stock seeing a bearish Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) crossover and the share price falling below its short-term 20-day moving average in a bearish move. However, the Apple stock seems to have found support at its 50-day moving average. The 50-day SMA has acted as a strong support level for Apple shares in 2017 and the stock could bounce back from here.

Of late, investor sentiment around Apple shares has taken a hit, now the latest short interest numbers further reflect the recent change in sentiment. Apple stock short interest jumped 32.5% in the latest reporting period. Short interest has neared a 6 month high. Short interest in Apple is up by 12.78 million shares to 52.15 million from 39.37 million shares in November end. The shorted shares make up 2% of its total float. Days to cover stood at 2 days. Despite the recent struggles, Apple stock looks good to be the first company to breach the psychologically significant $1 trillion dollar market cap in 2018.

Short interest in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) stock sees a minor uptick.

No doubt, Micron stock features among the best performers of the year 2017 with almost 100% returns. The chipmaker’s latest quarter earnings last week was another proof of why MU stock has outperformed the broader markets by some distance this year. For the 10th consecutive quarter, Micron delivered better than expected earnings results, both on the earnings and revenue front. In our recent post on Micron stock, a fellow author at Amigobulls had highlighted why Micron stock is still a good buy for 2018. However, having said all this, still, a section of the investing community is betting against Micron despite the massive gains. The latest short interest numbers suggest that short interest in Micron shares has edged closer to 1-year high. Short interest in MU stock has risen to 59.29 million shares, from 57.01 million shares as of November end, another slender increase of 4%. As a percentage of float, short interest came in at 5.4%, with days to cover coming at 1 day.

Looking for stocks that are backed by strong fundamentals like Apple stock? Check out our top stock picks, which have beaten the NASDAQ by over 148%. Interested in automotive stock? Then, we also have our top picks from the auto sector, which have beaten the S&P 500 by a whopping 279%. If you’re a trader though, you should check out our daily trading ideas section for daily, free updates on the latest crossovers and other popular technical signals.