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Barclays on U.S. Retail Softlines: Pak's Short Interest Monitor

July 18, 2011 5:30 PM EDT
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Price: $1.30 -10.34%

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Barclays on U.S. Retail Softlines: Pak's Short Interest Monitor

Barclays analyst says, "Short interest for the U.S. Specialty Softlines Industry increased 2.4% for the last two weeks of June versus the NYSE where short interest increased 1.3% and the NASDAQ where short interest decreased 1.5% for the same period. We believe the increase reflects the run in the group (the U.S. Retail Softlines stocks are up 10% since June 15th versus the S&P 500 up 4%) as well as concern over second half sourcing cost increases and pricing power."

"The end of June short interest is 19% above the 220 million shares short average for the last 12 months and is 44% above the 12-month low of 180 million shares short. U.S. Specialty Softlines Short Interest increased 2.4% as of June 30th to 260 million shares short, up from 254 million shares short as of June 15th."

KEY CALLOUTS: Express (Nasdaq: EXPR) short interest was up 58% from mid-June versus the industry average of up 2.4% and GES was down 22%.

WOMEN'S: Total short interest in women's specialty was up 6% from June 15th to 88 million shares and it was 30% above the 12-month average of 68 million shares. Days to cover averaged 5.6 versus 5.8 as of June 15th and the 12-month average of 4.5 days. Short interest to float averaged 10% versus the 12-month average of 9% and the highest ratios were Talbots (NYSE: TLB) (38%), AnnTaylor (NYSE: ANN) (18%), and WetSeal (Nasdaq: WTSLA) (17%).
TEEN/CHILDREN: Total short interest in teen/children was up 5% from June 15th to 65 million shares and it was 12% above the 12-month average of 58 million shares. Days to cover averaged 7.3 versus 6.2 as of June 15th and the 12-month average of 4.0 days. Short interest to float averaged 17% versus the 12-month average of 11% and the highest ratios were Zumiez (Nasdaq: ZUMZ) (24%), Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN) (24%), rue21 (NYSE: RUE) (23%) and Children's Place (Nasdaq: PLCE) (22%).


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