Beyond Meat Bears Stick to Their Short Bets, for Now

(Bloomberg) -- Beyond Meat Inc. short-sellers are hurting, but they’re sticking to their positions, for now.

As shares more than triple since their market debut on May 1, bears have been betting on an imminent crash. Despite falling about 10% last week, the stock bounced back this week, extending its gain for a second day on Wednesday. Shares climbed about 3.5% to $89.00 at 9:38 a.m. in New York.

Short-sellers’ mark-to-market losses are now about 20%, or $72.1 million, in their positions as most entered their bets after the stock’s initial pop to $70, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. What’s more, financing costs have shot up to a fee of 65% of the stock price per one year of borrowing, making the short bet even more unattractive, head of research Ihor Dusaniwsky wrote in a note on Tuesday.

If Beyond Meat’s stock price moves to the upper end of the range of its sell-side price target projections, with JPMorgan’s $97 at the top, “we would expect a short squeeze in the stock as the increased mark-to-market losses coupled with high stock borrow rates would be a one-two punch most short sellers would find hard to stomach,” he said.

For now, bears are undeterred. Short interest has sky-rocketed to 51% of shares available for trading, from 7% in the stock’s first week of trading, S3 data show. Beyond Meat rallied to $86 on Tuesday after JPMorgan touted its massive growth potential.

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