Paramount, Etsy, Albemarle among most shorted S&P 500 stocks in March

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA), Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) and Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) were the most shorted companies among S&P 500 stocks at the end of March (based on short interest as a percentage of outstanding shares float).

Paramount’s (PARA) short interest remained unchanged at around 14.7% from February, but bumped from second to the top rank after Whirlpool (WHR) was removed from the index around mid-March.

Albemarle (ALB) had 14.6M shares sold short as of March 28, or 12.50% of the shares float. The stock is rated Sell by Seeking Alpha's Quant system, scoring a D on valuation.

Among S&P 500 sectors, bets against consumer discretionary stocks (NYSEARCA:XLY) were the highest in the month, with an average of 2.74% at March-end. Etsy (ETSY) was the most-shorted consumer stock, with 15.27M shares sold short as of March 28, or 13.03% of the shares float. Amazon.com (AMZN) was the least shorted stock within consumer discretionary, with 70.55M shares sold short or 0.68% of the shares float.

Other S&P 500 stocks with high short interest at the end of March include:

• CarMax (KMX) 12%
• Charter Communications (CHTR) 11.62%
• Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) 9.58%
• Pool Corp (POOL) 9.4%
• C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) 9.31%
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) 9.01%
• Campbell Soup (CPB) 8.74%

T-Mobile US (TMUS), General Motors (GM) and Charter Communications (CHTR) had the largest short interest position in terms of value (dollar volume sold short), at $3.94B, $3.34B and $3.32B, respectively, as of March 28.

Over the past 12 months, TMUS and GM shares have underperformed compared to the broader S&P 500 index’s 25.12% upswing. Meanwhile, Charter (CHTR), whose short interest stood at 11.62% at March-end, has lost around 25% in share value over the past year. Short interest in the telecoms firm has recently increased by 13.53%, indicating pessimistic investor sentiment.

AI server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which recently joined the S&P 500 index replacing home appliance maker Whirlpool (WHR), was the second-most shorted information technology stock in March, with 6.22% of its float sold short. The stock had $3.13B of shares sold in the month, but saw its short interest drop by around 23%, suggesting improving investor sentiment.

Other stocks that have seen the highest value of shares sold short at March-end include:

• Occidental Petroleum (OXY) $3.21B
• Moderna (MRNA) $2.28B
• Tractor Supply (TSCO) $2.24B
• Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) $2.14B
• CarMax (KMX) $1.67B