COH and CAR: the week shorts hit the eject button

This Week's Analysis

The health care and “quality growth” short book didn’t get trimmed this week. It got dumped. COH went from 9.34% short to 2.33% in a single print (-7.01%; -7.79 sigma). CAR followed with an even more extreme statistical move, 11.57% to 5.11% (-6.46%; -20.81 sigma). And SHL? 7.22% to 1.16% (-6.06%; -16.54 sigma). That’s not rotation. That’s capitulation. 1

At the top of the leaderboard, DRO stays number one at 15.36% short (WoW -0.36%) with 8.7 days-to-cover — still crowded, but this week was a small release of pressure, not fresh piling-in. 1 LOT remains right behind at 15.03% (WoW -0.25%) with 5.9 days-to-cover. PLS is steady at 11.09% (WoW -0.01%) but still carries 14.8 days-to-cover — a position that can’t be exited quietly if sentiment turns. 1 The real “crowded exit” names are the ones with time baked into the unwind. DMP sits at 12.04% short with 24.1 days-to-cover, 4DX is 12.33% with 15.5 days-to-cover, TWE is 11.76% with 18.9 days-to-cover, and ELD is 10.93% with a huge 37.8 days-to-cover. Those are the setups where a good headline doesn’t just move price — it moves positioning. 1 And the list has a new face: FLT is NEW TO TOP 10 at 10.55% short (WoW -0.05%). The 13-week path is a steady bleed lower from 12.41% to 10.55%, which reads like a conviction trade being worked, not a panic chase. 1

Movers Analysis

Start with the exits. CAR’s short interest fell from 11.57% to 5.11% (-6.46%; -20.81 sigma) for a second straight weekly drop — and it happened with the stock down -3.02% on the week. That’s the tell: this wasn’t shorts getting squeezed by price. This was risk being pulled. 1 2 COH’s move was even cleaner: 9.34% to 2.33% (-7.01%; -7.79 sigma) in one week, right after its Appendix 4E and Annual Report. 1 3 SHL also saw a second straight week of covering, 7.22% to 1.16% (-6.06%; -16.54 sigma). The fundamentals backdrop doesn’t scream “broken”: H1 FY2026 net profit was $262.487 million and cash generated from operations was $682.012 million. Shorts simply didn’t want to wear it. 1 4 SGP joined the purge: 5.63% to 0.59% (-5.04%; -12.05 sigma), also a second consecutive weekly fall. 1 Now the adds — and they were more selective. CBO was the standout riser: 2.37% to 3.09% (+0.72%), a 4.47-sigma jump with 25.9 days-to-cover. One week. Big move. Hard exit if it reverses. 1 AQZ lifted from 0.25% to 0.77% (+0.52%; +3.47 sigma) for a second straight weekly rise, but with just 1.1 days-to-cover it’s not a squeeze story — it’s a positioning nibble that can be unwound quickly. 1 APA also popped from 1.69% to 2.24% (+0.55%; +3.01 sigma), again a second straight weekly rise, with 14.5 days-to-cover. 1 And TCL is the one building a campaign: 1.63% to 2.08% (+0.45%; +2.34 sigma) and a 3-week streak. That’s how a trade gets crowded — one quiet week at a time. 1