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While most investors in the stock market are looking for prices to go up, many hedge fund managers are betting billions of dollars that some stock prices will go down.
Goldman Sachs just released its new quarterly "Hedge Fund Trend Monitor" report, detailing the positions of the top hedge funds.
Within the report, Goldman presented its "Very Important Short Position" list, the collection of the S&P 500 stocks with the highest dollar value of short interest outstanding at the end of the third quarter.
The list includes multiple companies in the oil, retail, and technology industries.
We've ranked the stocks from smallest dollar value of short interest to largest. Also included is the percentage of floated stock that is short interest and a comment from company executives.
19. Sysco
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Ticker: SYY
Subsector: Food Distributors
Value of short interest (in billions): $2.0
Short interest of % of float: 9%
Executive comment: "However, sales growth was minimal and earnings were essentially flat due in large part to the unfavorable impact of both food cost deflation and currency translation. These two factors have somewhat restrained our performance for a good portion of the calendar year and we expect that these headwinds will persist for the next few months,"said CEO William DeLaney.
Source: Goldman Sachs
18. Halliburton
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Ticker: HAL
Subsector: Oil & Gas Equipment & Services
Value of short interest (in billions): $2.1
Short interest of % of float: 6%
Executive comment: "As expected, it was another very challenging quarter for the services industry. Activity levels and pricing took another hit across the globe, as our customers respond to the impact of reduced commodity prices, and the pressure that their own shareholders are putting on them,"said CEO Dave Lesar.
Source: Goldman Sachs
17. Wal-Mart
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Ticker: WMT
Subsector: Hypermarkets & Super Centers
Value of short interest (in billions): $2.1
Short interest of % of float: 2%
Executive comment: "As we expected, operating income continued to be pressured by our decision to invest in our frontline associates. To improve the store experience for our customers and create a bridge to our future where digital capabilities will play an increasing role in our stores, we're making a $1.2 billion planned investment in our people this year that we understood what impact near-term operating income. This is by far the biggest driver of the decline in consolidated operating income,"said CEO Doug McMillon.
Source: Goldman Sachs
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