Some retail traders have taken the ride of a lifetime through a number of epic short squeezes that have seen stocks such as AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc (NYSE:AMC) and GameStop Corporation (NYSE:GME) rise parabolically on a few different occasions this year.
What Happened: In two of the most legendary squeezes, GameStop skyrocketed 2,309% over 11 days in January, and between May 24 and June 2 AMC soared 496%. The short squeezes were attributed to the stocks’ underlying statistics: both GameStop and AMC had high levels of insider and institutional ownership or a high number of shares held short.
There was also speculation that a number of institutions were illegally naked shorting the stocks.
GameStop and AMC’s statistics have recently improved and both stocks have become less volatile in trading.
In June, 22.85%, meaning 102.3 million, of AMC’s total 448.56 share float was held short. That number is now down to 15.95% or 79.75 million shares.
In April, GameStop had a highly bizarre 108.75% of its total float held by insiders and institutions. The figure has dropped off to 59.83% as of June.
See Also: Short Squeeze? Tilray Stock Soars On Standout Earnings
What’s Next: GameStop still has a relatively high number of its shares held short at 18.18%, but the following four stocks come in with the greatest short interest — and could be ready to smoke some hedge funds.
Arcimoto Inc (NASDAQ:FUV), an EV company best known for its Fun Utility Vehicle, is a retail trader’s dream with a tiny float of just 26.99 million shares. Arcimoto also has high levels of ownership, with institutions owning 24.97% of its float and insiders an additional 24.73%.
Arcimoto is ranked No. 1 for the highest number of its shares held short at 41.44%.
Arcimoto was trading 5.75% higher at $16.08 at last check Thursday.
Workhorse Group, Inc (NASDAQ:WKHS), a company that manufactures electric delivery and utility vehicles, takes the No. 2 spot for the same reasons.
Workhorse has a relatively small float of just 115.13 million shares and 40.54 million shares held short, which means 33.7% of its float is held short. Workhorse also has fairly high ownership, with 50.89% of its float held by insiders and institutions, although institutions own the bulk of it.
Shares of Workhorse were trading 3.72% higher at $11.72 at last check.
Blink Charging Co (NASDAQ:BLNK), an electric vehicle infrastructure company, follows in third place.
Blink has a super small float of just 36.12 million shares available for trading. 35.22% of Blink’s float is held short, meaning 12.8 million of its total shares, and that number has increased from 11.15 million in June. Insiders and Institutions own 44.12% of the total shares available.
Blink stock was trading down 3.88% at $34.06 at last check.
Gogo Inc (NASDAQ:GOGO) is the fourth most-shorted stock with 22.09% of its 45.34-million-share float held short.
Of the four stocks, Gogo has the highest ownership level, with a whopping 92.14% of its shares held by insiders and institutions. Gogo is a provider of in-flight broadband and internet services for commercial and business aircrafts.
Gogo was trading down 0.34% at $10.18 at last check.
Photo: courtesy of Arcimoto.
