Apple  Topped Tesla As The Most Shorted Stock In The United States

According to statistics from S3 Partners, Apple Inc. just surpassed Tesla as the stock with the highest level of short interest in the United States. Presently, Apple has $18.44 billion in short interest, compared to $17.44 billion for Tesla.

Although Apple has a bigger total dollar value, its short interest as a proportion of the float is far lower at 0.70 compared to 1.8% for Tesla.

Ihor Dusaniwsky, Managing Director of Predictive Analytics at S3 Partners, stated in a research paper that "Tesla Inc has held the top spot in the short interest league tables for 864 days, almost two and a half years since April 2020 but Apple Inc has recently recaptured the crown,"

The maker of electric vehicles maintained the position for more than two years and currently has short interest of almost $17.4 billion.

Tesla has been a contentious stock, sparking ferocious debate between bulls and bears over the company's future. The bulls have been winning lately, for the most part.

Short interest measures the amount of money being bet against a stock and frequently reflects traders' belief that the price will decline. It may also be a sign of market-wide short selling or portfolio hedging.

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns a $140 billion or 5.6% stake in the technology giant, is effectively being gambled against by Apple short sellers.

They might, however, be in line with Michael Burry, who in the first quarter of this year had negative put options on Apple stock. In the second quarter, the investor from "The Big Short" exited that trade and liquidated almost all of his holdings.