Short interest accounts for more than 19% of CHK's total available float
Stocks have reversed lower this afternoon, despite an early rally with oil. Three stocks making noteworthy moves are e-commerce name Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP), oil and gas concern Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK), and satellite service provider Intelsat SA (NYSE:I). Below, we will take a closer look at how shares of SHOP, CHK, and I are trading on the charts.
Shopify Extends Sell-Off
Shopify stock is down 6% at $145.70, extending its week-to-date loss to 10.4%. SHOP first started spiraling late last week after a key Supreme Court ruling impacting online retailers. Today's sell-off, which coincides with a scathing Seeking Alpha report, has SHOP pacing for a close below its 50-day moving average, located at $146.51 -- which would be its first since May 2.
Some traders are bracing for more downside. Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows the security with a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.31, which ranks in the 80th percentile of its annual range. In other words, Shopify puts have been purchased over calls at a faster-than-usual clip during the past two weeks.
Chesapeake Energy Stock Squeezes Shorts
Chesapeake Energy stock is up 2.3% to $5.14, at last check, and earlier touched a new annual high of $5.44. Pushing higher with energy stocks today, CHK is currently up about 30% year-to-date.
Along with elevated oil prices, short-covering activity has likely contributed to the stock's recent ramp higher. Short interest on CHK fell by 13% in the past two reporting periods, but still accounts for a healthy 19.4% of the equity's float -- or 4.8 times its average daily trading volume.
Intelsat Rallies on Kerrisdale Nod
Shares of Intelsat are up 2.2% at $17.74 -- and fresh off a four-year high of $21.05 -- after Kerrisdale Capital reported a 6.3% passive stake in the company. Intelsat stock has been soaring on the charts since early April, and at last check had gained over 423% year-to-date.
Notably, Intelsat is at the top of our internal contrarian filter for stocks that have attracted increasingly bearish attention despite outperforming the SPX over the last year. Specifically, Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White noted last week that the stock has more than quintupled in value year-over-year, even as short interest has jumped 81.2% and analyst "buy" ratings have declined by 1.8%.