Short Interest Jumped Big Time In These 5 Stocks This Month

#3 Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 33
– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $465.16 million
– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 9.30%

Investors became a little more cautious on Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN) in the first half of August, as the total shares short the stock rose by 87.1% to 985,746 shares, or 2.8% of the float. Some funds may have taken a short position due to Vail Resort’s acquisition of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings for CAD$17.50 per share (or USD$13.45) and 0.0975 shares of Vail, on August 8. Although the acquisition might pay off in the long-run, it isn’t guaranteed to deliver in the short term and the deal makes Vail a tad riskier.

#2 Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 39
– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $1.19 billion
– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 1.60%

Short interest in Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) surged by 170.6% to 36.79 million shares by the middle of August, good for 12.2% of the defense maker’s float. Meanwhile, the shares held in long position by the funds in our system only amounted to 1.6% of Lockheed’s float at the end of June. Investors could be shorting the stock due to valuation purposes. With a forward P/E of 19, Lockheed isn’t exactly cheap and Lockheed’s earnings results could disappoint if its F-35 program runs into more trouble.

#1 Cedar Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:CDR)

– Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders (as of June 30): 6
– Total Value of Hedge Funds’ Holdings (as of June 30): $22 million
– Hedge Funds’ Holdings as Percent of Float (as of June 30): 3.50%

With 7.97 million shares short on August 15, versus 2.53 million shares short on July 29, Cedar Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:CDR) is number one on our list in terms of short interest spikes. Due to the 214.6% short increase, 10.2% of Cedar Realty Trust’s float is short, versus 3.5% of the float that was being held in long positions on June 30 among the hedge funds in our database. Cedar Realty reported FFO of $0.15 per share on revenue of $37.87 million for the second quarter, up by 7% and 3.1% respectively year-over-year.

Disclosure: None