Time Warner short interest declined, others mixed

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) has seen another drop in its short interest, the amount of shares that are listed as "Sold Short" by the NYSE. The February reading of 65.87 million shares short fell in March down to 62.794 million shares (March 15). Interestingly enough, the shares were actually lower: on the February 15 cutoff date, TWX shares were at $21.59, and on March 15 the stock was at $19.44. It also formally completed the spin-off in Time Warner Cable (TWC).

Unfortunately, there is no information available for Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) as of yet since it just started trading.

The January short interest in TWX was as high as 84.5 million shares. For comparison: TWX had 47 million shares in its short interest last August 15, 50.4 million on September 15, and 67.5 million in October. November was the first decline, to 66.25 million shares, but that was the only declining month since August.

This new reading gives a days-to-cover ratio of only 2.6 days. Now that shareholders don't have to worry about Carl Icahn unloading a few days' worth of trading volume all at once and now that the spin-off arbitrageurs for the TWX-TWC are out of the name, this drop in short interest makes sense.

How does this compare to other names? General Electric (NYSE:GE) short interest rose 20 million shares to 46 million in March; Home Depot (NYSE:HD) saw short interest fall to 36 million shares from 72 million; News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) short interest increased from 19.55 million shares to 20.94 million shares.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.