Friday, May 15, 2009

Hmm... lots of short sellers betting that MNI's share price will go down -- Update: reader says "worse than they realize"

Fitz and Jen -- who do a better job than anybody bringing news about the newspaper industry -- have an interesting tidbit about what short sellers are up to these days. Apparently MNI is a very popular newspaper stock among short sellers right now.

Not sure what short sellers are? F&J explain:
Short sellers, of course, borrow shares and sell them, hoping the share price goes down so that when they buy shares to return them they can pocket the difference.

Here are the short interest (percentage of shares in trade held by short sellers) in newspaper stocks:
  • MNI: 27.23%
  • GCI: 26.6%
  • Media General Inc. (NYSE: MEG): 24.8%
  • Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE): 21.13%
  • The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT): 18.07%
  • E.W. Scripps (NSYE: SSP): 10.29%
  • The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO): 3.43%
  • Journal Communications (NYSE: JRN): 3.29%
  • A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC): 2.55%
So 27% of MNI's shares in trade is held by people betting real money that MNI's share price will go down. Sounds like a vote of no confidence.

UPDATE: A reader says MNI's bottom could fall soon because the short sellers are starting to cash out:
"... now the short sellers are cashing out as they find no value going forward. When the short sellers bail there will be nothing left to lift the stock and the march to zero will begin in earnest."

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's worse than they realize. The short interest numbers that were released yesterday represent 6 million shares covered in the previous two week period.

It is beyond lack of confidence because now the short sellers are cashing out as they find no value going forward. When the short sellers bail there will be nothing left to lift the stock and the march to zero will begin in earnest.

Anonymous said...

For what it is worth, the company that supplies the pro-cards and T&E cards to McClatchy (J.P.MORGAN CHASE, I think) is asking for collateral.
Seems to me that such a picture is worth 1000 words as to the expected solvency of MNI.

Anonymous said...

What are pro-cards and T&E cards ?

Maybe MNI insiders are selling short on news they have ? Illegal but done everyday. Many relatives and friends getting rich.

Anonymous said...

To 4:55
Pro-cards are credit cards issued by company to certain employees to be used to purchase materials needed in the everyday function of that employee's department such as office supplies from Office Depot or a set of drive belts for an A/C blower.

T&E is Travel & Entertainment.

Again, a company supplied credit card

Anonymous said...

Maybe MNI insiders are selling short on news they have ? Illegal but done everyday. Many relatives and friends getting rich.

==================
Doubtful. Until recently these people were making the big bucks off of issuing themselves stock options and collecting the dividends. By the time their money tree was picked clean MNI had solicited protection from short sellers.

Also, to have done so is not only illegal, they would have suffered the worst imaginable case of institutional backlash from their largest shareholders who were taking a bath.

Anonymous said...

I'm 6'3" and I sold my stock a long time ago. Who cares what short people do?