Traders are increasingly betting against struggling electric vehicle maker Nikola . FactSet data showed short interest in Nikola increased by 12% to 97.4 million shares. That represents more than 35% of the shares available for trading. Nikola shares have taken a beating in 2022, losing roughly 67%. The stock has also fallen about 96% since hitting a closing high of $79.73 on June 9, 2020. To be sure, BTIG’s Gregory Lewis thinks the stock can bounce from current levels. The analyst last month upgraded Nikola to buy from neutral and slapped a $12 price target. “We believe NKLA is well positioned to benefit from increasing demand to decarbonize the Class 8 truck market. NKLA plans to roll out its FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle) next year and continues to develop its H2 fueling infrastructure network in North America (currently has no stations),” Lewis said. Short interest in Carvana also rose by 10% to 34.6 million shares, or about 36% of the overall float. Investors also mounted bets against Wayfair , with short interest rising 14% to 21.2 million shares. Check out the full list of heavily shorted stocks below. (Note: The table includes stocks traded on the NASDAQ or NYSE exchanges with short interest greater than 25% of their total float and at least $100 million in market cap. Short interest data is updated twice a month and reported mid-month and at the end of the month. These figures are current as of Oct. 14 as reported by the exchanges, via FactSet. The next release date is Nov. 9 for short interest data as of Oct. 31).
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