Select Medical Short Interest Ratio and Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of Select Medical shares that have been sold short but have not yet been closed out or covered. As of March 31st, investors have sold 2,720,000 shares of SEM short. 2.47% of Select Medical's shares are currently sold short. View details.

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. Select Medical currently has a short interest ratio of 4.0.

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. 2.47% of Select Medical's floating shares are currently sold short.

Select Medical saw a drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,720,000 shares, a drop of 10.5% from the previous total of 3,040,000 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.

Select Medical currently has issued a total of 134,839,000 shares. Some of Select Medical'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. Select Medical currently has a public float of 110,170,000 shares.

2.47% of Select Medical's shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sub-industry of "health care facilities" compare to Select Medical: HCA Healthcare, Inc. (1.12%), Alcon Inc. (1.20%), Universal Health Services, Inc. (2.01%), Tenet Healthcare Co. (0.00%), Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (4.84%), The Ensign Group, Inc. (2.75%), U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (4.60%), Community Health Systems, Inc. (0.00%), Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (6.02%), and National HealthCare Co. (1.08%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Analog Devices, Inc. ($5.84 billion), Aon plc ($5.47 billion), Charter Communications, Inc. ($5.36 billion), ViacomCBS Inc. ($3.99 billion), Snap Inc. ($3.77 billion), Airbnb, Inc. ($2.90 billion), Peloton Interactive, Inc. ($2.43 billion), Discovery, Inc. ($2.38 billion), The Kroger Co. ($2.28 billion), and Expedia Group, Inc. ($2.18 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling SEM is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from Select Medical as its price is falling. Select Medical's stock is trading down $0.33 today. To short Select Medical 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 Select Medical 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 Select Medical 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 SEM, 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 SEM, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is March, 31 2021.