Short-sellers flock to LinkedIn and Groupon

In one of the busiest reporting weeks in the reporting calendar the bears have lifted their short exposure to high-profile internet names to an unprecedented level.

Internet companies have dominated the stockmarket headlines of late following news of Facebook’s planned £5 billion flotation.

Now the attention has switched to the likes of LinkedIn and Groupon ahead of their results. 

According to Dataexplorers, short interest in LinkedIn has risen to an unprecedented high of 5%, up a 1% from November when the online professional networking site put 1.3 million shares on the market in a bid to raise $91 million.  Dataexplorers said almost all of the lendable supply of the stock in now out on loan following the increase in demand to borrow the stock.

Meanwhile short interest in daily-deals site Groupon - which has jumped by around 20% since Facebook unveiled details of its float last week - is also at an unprecedented high of 2%. ‘Although this is relatively low in absolute terms, it represents almost all of the lendable supply available to be borrowed, given the limited stock that was floated in the initial offering,’ Dataexplorers said.

Elsewhere travel and tourism stock Expedia is top of Dataexplorers' list of high profile names to be shorted, with the 13% of its shares on loan. Short interest in the stock has doubled since the start of the fourth quarter. 

In the UK private equity firm SVG Capital and international leisure travel firm Tui Travel are among the most shorted stocks ahead of the reporting season, with 7% and 4% of its stock out on loan respectively.