Aterian (NASDAQ:ATER) is in full focus after the stock closed up 19% yesterday. In addition, shares of ATER stock are up more than 35% 0ver the past five trading days. The machine-learning consumer products company has recently attracted the attention of the retail crowd. On r/WallStreetBets, Aterian is currently the 44th most discussed ticker, with mentions up 650% in the past 24 hours. Here’s what you should know about Aterian moving forward.
ATER Stock Is in the Spotlight
Aterian currently ranks No. 1 on Fintel’s Short Squeeze Leaderboard with a rating of 99.51. The leaderboard ranks companies on a scale of 1 to 100 based on factors like short float and borrow fee rate. A rating of 100 signifies that a company is likely to experience a short squeeze, while a rating of 0 signifies a low probability of a short squeeze.
Aterian carries a massive 34.76% short interest as a percentage of float, with short interest rising 24.73% from the previous month. The high short interest is coupled with a high borrow fee rate of 121.86%. Furthermore, Fintel reports that are only 65,000 shares available to short. However, with Aterian up more than 35% in the past five days, the short squeeze may have already begun.
5 Big Investors Betting on Aterian
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and price support for stocks. According to WhaleWisdom, which tracks all 13F filers, 80 funds own ATER stock, down from 83 in the prior quarter. Meanwhile, 19 funds reported initiating a new position, while 22 funds completely closed their position.
Aterian bulls will be happy to hear this next statistic, which is that the institutional put/call ratio lies at 0.64, down from 0.8 in Q3. This means that more funds are holding call options against the company than put options. The largest call options holder is Susquehanna International Group, which owns 7,837 call options as of Q4. However, the investment firm also owns 3,806 put options, along with 255,094 common shares. This suggests that Susquehanna is hedging their long position or engaging in an options strategy, such as a straddle.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top five institutional shareholders of Aterian:
- 9830 MacArthur: 4.9 million shares, or 8% ownership.
- Vanguard Group: 1.9 million shares, or 3.1% ownership.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 1.8 million shares, or 2.9% ownership.
- Meitav Dash Investments: 675,768 shares, or 1% ownership.
- Geode Capital Management: 584,904 shares, or 0.9% ownership.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
