The technology sector has maintained its position as the most shorted sector for the third consecutive month, with Apple, IBM, Super Micro, SoFi Technologies, and Texas Instruments leading the pack, according to data from Hazeltree.
The company’s February 2025 Shortside Crowdedness Report, which tracks short selling activity across large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks, also identified Kering SA and H&M in the EMEA region, along with Disco Corporation in APAC, as some of the most shorted large-cap stocks.
Hazeltree, a specialist in active treasury and intelligent operations technology for the alternative asset industry, aggregates data from its proprietary securities finance platform, which monitors approximately 15,000 global equities. The data, compiled from a network of around 700 asset manager funds, is anonymised and provides insight into the most heavily shorted securities worldwide. Hazeltree then assigns a Crowdedness Score to each security, ranging from 1 to 99, where 99 represents the highest concentration of shorting activity.
Tim Smith, Managing Director of Data Insights at Hazeltree, noted that while the US tech sector continues to experience layoffs, the pace has slowed compared to last year. Additionally, job postings remain high, and the IT job market continues to contract.
“These trends suggest a market in transition rather than collapse, with tech companies adjusting talent strategies to align with shifting economic priorities,” Smith explained.
In the Americas, Chevron Corporation held steady as the most crowded large cap security for the second month in a row, scoring a perfect 99, while Super Micro Computer followed closely with a score of 91 and maintained the highest institutional supply utilisation at 53.27% for the third straight month.
Dayforce topped the mid-cap category with a Crowdedness Score of 99, while Shift4Payments, Inc had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 35.88%.
In terms of small-cap stocks, Wolfspeed continued its dominance as the most crowded security for the seventh consecutive month, scoring 99, while Enovix Corporation held the highest institutional supply utilisation at 85.91%.
In EMEA, Kering SA and H&M were the top contenders in the large-cap category, each scoring 99. Kering returned to the top for the second consecutive month, while H&M maintained the highest institutional supply utilisation at 76.34% for the eighth month in a row.
Kingfisher plc, BE Semiconductor Industries NV, and Delivery Hero SE were all at the top in terns of mid-cap stocks with perfect scores of 99. Carl Zeiss Meditec AG had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 51.20%.
Alphawave IP Group, meanwhile, remained the most crowded small-cap security for the third month in a row with a score of 99, while Oxford Nanopore Technologies led in institutional supply utilisation at 74.11%.
In APCA, Disco Corporation maintained its position as one of the most crowded large-cap securities with a score of 99 for the second consecutive month, while MTR Corp had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 21.07%.
Mid-ca Kokusai Electric Corporation also secured a perfect score of 99 for the second month in a row and had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 51.66%, while Tokai Carbon Co reemerged as the most crowded small-cap security, with a score of 99 for the second consecutive month. KeePer Technical Laboratory held the highest institutional supply utilisation at 74.51%.
