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Hedge funds have had a great year picking stocks. But there's a dark underbelly to their investment activity that involves betting on companies to falter.
To see which stocks bear the biggest burden of hedge fund shorts, the equity strategy team at Goldman Sachs analyzes 821 funds that hold a combined $1.9 trillion in gross equity positions, then identifies the stocks that have the highest dollar value of short interest outstanding.
Known as the Very Important Short Position list, the basket excludes companies in Goldman's hedge fund VIP index, as well as stocks with more than 10% of float-adjusted shares held short. It also has a large-cap bias, with a median market capitalization of $71 billion, compared with $20 billion for the S&P 500.
Here's a list of the 18 stocks in the index that have the highest level of short interest:
18. Target
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Subsector: General merchandise stores
Total return year-to-date: -21%
Value of short interest: $1.9 billion
Source: Goldman Sachs
17. Boeing
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Subsector: Aerospace & defense
Total return year-to-date: 16%
Value of short interest: $2 billion
Source: Goldman Sachs
16. Lam Research
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Subsector: Semiconductor equipment
Total return year-to-date: 42%
Value of short interest: $2 billion
Source: Goldman Sachs
See the rest of the story at Business Insider