Viacom (VIAB) Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Viacom shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. As of November 15th, traders have sold 20,130,000 shares of VIAB short. 5.70% of Viacom's shares are currently sold short. Learn More on Viacom's current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. VIAB shares currently have a short interest ratio of 3.0. Learn More on Viacom's short interest ratio.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 5.70% of Viacom's floating shares are currently sold short.

Viacom saw a increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totaling 20,130,000 shares, an increase of 38.9% from the previous total of 14,490,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

Viacom currently has issued a total of 403,406,000 shares. Some of Viacom's outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. Viacom currently has a public float of 352,900,000 shares.

5.70% of Viacom's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "consumer discretionary" compare to Viacom: Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (11.80%), News Corporation (1.71%), Cinemark Holdings Inc (20.55%), Reading International Inc (0.57%), The Walt Disney Company (1.21%), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (4.65%), Tencent Music Entertainment Group Sponsored ADR (3.93%), Carnival Corporation (4.93%), TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (8.97%), Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (4.80%),

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Ringcentral, Inc. ($862.50 million), Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ($637.88 million), Immunomedics, Inc. ($530.84 million), Viacom, Inc. ($466.41 million), Glaukos Corporation ($461.75 million), QTS Realty Trust, Inc. ($419.87 million), Smartsheet Inc ($418.21 million), Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ($393.42 million), Premier, Inc. ($342.60 million), and ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. ($280.25 million). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling VIAB is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Viacom as its price is falling. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for Viacom occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock appreciates in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of VIAB, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including VIAB, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is November, 15 2019.