While the stock market raced toward record highs in late 2023, some hedge funds mounted bets against a myriad of names. Some of those trades appear to be paying off. The broader market has taken a nosedive to start the year following the 2023 rally. The S & P 500 has lost 1.1% this week, after surging more than 24% last year while also seeing its best weekly win streak since 2004. Against this backdrop, CNBC Pro screened FactSet data for stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Exchange with the most short interest as of Dec. 15. These stocks have at least $100 million in market capitalization and short interest represented at least 25% of their total float, which is the number of shares outstanding that is available to be traded. Fisker shorts There was a sizable increase in bets against electric vehicle maker Fisker , which saw its short increase 17% to 90 million shares to around 45% of the company’s stock float. Fisker, which lost a whopping 76% in 2023, recently decided to abandon its direct-to-consumer sales model in the U.S. and instead work with traditional dealerships. The company struggled to keep up with its delivery goals last year, given the logistics of shipping cars to U.S. buyers from a factory in Austria. Lucid Group , another EV maker, also saw a notable short interest increase, to about 27% of its float. Short interest also increased for used car retailer Carvana , climbing more than 7% to 35 million shares, or about 37% of its float. The stock skyrocketed last year due to a massive debt restructuring deal , but customers are still grappling with higher used car prices caused by pandemic-fueled supply chain issues. A few artificial intelligence-based companies also showed up on the list, including cloud-based AI company Upstart and AI software provider C3.ai . Short interest in C3.ai grew 2% to roughly 36 million shares, or nearly 36% of its float, while Upstart saw its short interest during the period amount to about 27% of its float. Companies that have continued to see notable short interest since November include plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat and solar energy companies Sunnova Energy and SunPower .
