Short Trades

US-listed large caps whose operating margins and earnings have been falling across the years they have reported, while their shares are still priced richly against comparable companies. Each card shows how the accounts have moved, how the shares are valued and how much of the market is already short. Screened automatically against a fixed rule set and refreshed on a schedule.

Card labels

Both trend labels appear on this page. Neither is better than the other, and a label describes where a price currently sits rather than what will happen next.

What every figure on a card means

Deterioration

Rank
Where a stock sits against the others on this page, 1 being the closest match to what the screen looks for. It compares these stocks with each other and says nothing about what any of them will do next. The number stays the same when you filter.
Margin trend
How fast operating margin has changed per year over the reported years, in percentage points. Operating margin is operating profit as a share of revenue.
Earnings
The average yearly change in net income over the reported years.
Share count
The average yearly change in the number of shares. A positive figure means new shares were issued, spreading the business across more of them.
Cash conversion
Free cash flow measured against reported profit. It shows how much of the stated profit arrives as cash.
Interest cover
Operating profit measured against the interest bill. "No interest expense" means the reported interest expense is zero.
Net debt / EBITDA
Borrowings less cash, measured against annual earnings before interest, tax and depreciation. A negative figure means the company holds more cash than debt.
New
The stock first appeared on this list within the last day.

Positioning

Short interest
Shares sold short as a percentage of the freely tradable shares.
Days to cover
How many days of average trading volume it would take for every share sold short to be bought back.
Short interest change
The change in the number of shares sold short since the previous month's report.
Insider flow
Value of shares bought and sold by company insiders over the last six months.
Rating
The consensus view reported by the analysts covering the stock.

Valuation

EV/EBITDA
Enterprise value, the market value of the shares plus net debt, measured against annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
P/E
Share price divided by earnings per share over the last twelve months.
P/B
Share price against the book value of the company's assets.
FCF yield
Free cash flow as a percentage of market value.
PEG
P/E adjusted for the expected rate of earnings growth.
D/E
Total debt against shareholder equity.
The bars
Where a figure sits among the other stocks currently on this page. They are relative to the rows on screen, not to any fixed target, so they shift as the list changes.

Price and momentum

1W, 2W, 4W, 52W
Price change over roughly the last one, two and four weeks, and over the past year.
Target
The mean price target published by the analysts covering the stock, with the gap to the current price. Shown only when the two are on a comparable scale.
30 day price line
Daily closing prices for the last 30 days. A dashed line means no daily history was available and the shape is reconstructed from the changes above.

Not reported means the figure was not available, which is different from a value of zero.

Informational only. Figures are screened from public market data and are not a recommendation to buy, sell or sell short. Falling margins and earnings do not mean a share price will fall, and a price can rise a long way whatever the accounts say.