Investor anxiety over tech-focused SVB Financial ‘s fund-raising plans sent its shares tumbling Thursday , but short sellers have been targeting several other banks too, data shows. Crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital was the most shorted stock among regional and national banks as of Feb. 28, according to the latest industry data compiled by FactSet. Short-sellers profit when a stock falls. They borrow shares to immediately sell them with plans to buy them back when the price is lower, making a profit from the difference. Short-sellers held over two-thirds of Silvergate’s shares, betting on more declines in its stock price — despite a 90% slump over the past 12 months. Earlier this week, shares in the bank fell 36% after the crypto industry lender said it is winding down operations and liquidating its bank. The following table shows the 15 stocks with the highest percentage of shares held short. The selling on Wall Street gained steam Thursday after SVB Financial revealed plans to raise more than $2 billion in capital in a bid to offset losses from bond sales . The announcement spurred a sell-off across the financial sector as investors grew increasingly concerned that higher interest rates would result in banks facing losses on loans due to borrower defaults. The financial sector was the worst performing within the S & P 500 on Thursday, posting a 4.1% drop — its worst day since 2020. More than 5% of Silicon Valley Bank’s shares, worth $340 million were held short, FactSet data reveals. SVB has got its “own issues” from being a tech-oriented lender, said Antoine Lesne, Head of ETFs strategy in Europe at State Street Global Advisors. According to SVB’s mid-quarter update, one of the primary problems the bank faces has to do with the amount of money its customers are spending. Total client funds have fallen for the last five quarters, as cash burn has continued at a rapid pace despite the slowdown in venture investing. New York-based Signature Bank , another crypto lender larger than Silvergate Capital, was also a target with 6% of its shares, or $344 million, held in short positions. Short interest in dollar value Investors should be aware that short interest as a percentage of shares may only be a useful metric to compare companies of a similar size, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of short interest data provider S3 Partners. Dusaniwsky explained that a more reliable metric to determine the amount of short-selling bets in a security relative to other stocks is total dollar value short interest, which takes into account both the quantity and value of these bets. For example, 20 $5 chips may appear like a large bet compared with five $100 chips; however, it’s actually the latter that conveys higher risk and conviction on behalf of a short-seller, he added. Ally Financial and First Horizon are two banks on the list with the highest percentage of shares held short and the largest short interest in dollar value. Ally Financial was previously downgraded by equity analysts at Barclays , Bank of America and Morgan Stanley over concerns that high inflation, rising unemployment, and fewer savings will result in higher credit losses. America’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase , is the most shorted bank in dollar value terms. — CNBC’s Rohan Goswami, Ari Levy, and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed reporting.
