NEW YORK & LONDON--()--Live Nation Entertainment and Apple tied for the most crowded large cap securities in the U.S., according to the latest Shortside Crowdedness Report from Hazeltree, a leader in active treasury and intelligent operations technology for the alternative asset industry. The report also found that H&M, Anta Sports Products, Ltd., Renesas Electronics Corporation and The Oriental Land Company were the most crowded shorted large-cap stocks in their respective regions of EMEA and APAC.

The report is a monthly listing of the top 10 shorted securities in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions in the large-, mid-, and small-cap ranges. The data is compiled from Hazeltree’s proprietary securities finance platform data, which tracks approximately 15,000 global equities across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. The data - available to select clients - is aggregated and anonymized from the contributing Hazeltree community, which includes approximately 700 asset manager funds representing 20% of hedge fund gross market value. The securities are assigned a Hazeltree Crowdedness Score, a key metric, which grades securities on a scale of 1 to 99, with 99 representing the highest concentration of shorting activity. This scoring highlights securities most targeted by investors and reflects key supply-demand dynamics.

“During the month of December half of the most shorted Americas large cap securities were tech names including tech titans like Apple, IBM and AMD,” said Tim Smith, Managing Director of Data Insights at Hazeltree. “Noticeably absent from the list of top 10 securities was Tesla which topped the list for most of 2024. We also saw the return of H&M as the most crowded EMEA large cap security and Renova with the highest institutional supply utilization in the APAC small-cap category.”

Highlights from the December 2024 report include:

Americas

  • In the large-cap category, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and Apple topped the list as the most crowded securities with a score of 99. IBM and Chevron Corporation were the second most crowded securities with a score of 96, while Super Micro Computer had the highest institutional supply utilization (41.80%).
  • In the mid-cap category, Bloom Energy Corp. topped the list as the most crowded for the second consecutive month, with a Hazeltree Crowdedness Score of 99. Comstock Resources held the highest institutional supply utilization figure (50.26%).
  • In the small-cap category, Wolfspeed, Inc. continued its hold as the most crowded security for the fifth consecutive month, with a score of 99 and also had the highest institutional supply utilization (57.23%).

EMEA

  • In the large-cap category, H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB was the most crowded security, with a score of 99, returning to the top spot from September, and the highest institutional supply utilization (75.67%).
  • In the mid-cap category, Alstom was the most crowded security (99) returning from August. Neste Oyj had the highest institutional supply utilization (25.98%).
  • In the small-cap category, SSP Group plc, Hays PLC, Basic-Fit N.V. and Alphawave IP Group plc were the most crowded securities, each achieving a score of 99. Air France-KLM S.A. also led in institutional supply utilization (91.45%).

APAC

  • In the large-cap category, Anta Sports Products, Ltd. remained one of the most crowded securities for a second month and was joined by Renesas Electronics Corporation and The Oriental Land Company with a score of 99. United Microelectronics Corporation had the highest institutional supply utilization (42.89%).
  • In the mid-cap category, Ibiden Co., Ltd., was the most crowded security with a score of 99. WuXi AppTec had the highest institutional supply utilization (34.56%).
  • In the small-cap category, Mercari, Inc. was the most crowded security (99) for two consecutive months. Renova, Inc. had the highest institutional supply utilization (57.21%).

To view Hazeltree’s December Shortside Crowdedness Report and past reports, click here.

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Hazeltree Shortside Crowdedness Report Methodology

The Shortside Crowdedness Report tracks shorting activity in three different metrics:

  1. Hazeltree Crowdedness Score: This score represents securities that are being shorted by the highest percentage of funds in Hazeltree’s community in a pre-defined category. The securities are graded on a scale of 1-99, with 99 representing the security that the highest percentage of funds are shorting.
  2. Institutional Supply Utilization: This figure represents the percentage of the institutional investors’ supply of a particular security that is being lent out. The institutional supply utilization rate is an indicator of how “hot” a security is in terms of the supply-demand dynamic. It is possible to see 100% utilization of a security’s availability, making it difficult to establish new short positions.
  3. Hazeltree Community Borrow Fee: This figure is the average weighted fee for what funds in the Hazeltree community are paying to borrow a security. The fee is represented as the annualized cost calculated as a percentage of the price of the security.

About Hazeltree

Hazeltree is a leader in active treasury and intelligent operations technology. Purpose-built for the alternative asset management ecosystem, Hazeltree’s modular platform aggregates internal and external data, providing a comprehensive view of operations and counterparty relationships while proactively highlighting opportunities to extract more value from every transaction. Hazeltree is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bournemouth, and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.hazeltree.com.