Investing.com-- Short positions on NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose sharply this week after it overtook Apple Inc as the second-most valuable company on Wall Street, as persistent hype over artificial intelligence and an upcoming stock split boosted the stock.
Data from S3 Partners showed the notional value of short positions on Nvidia rose to $34.4 billion this week, representing about 1% of the firm’s overall market capitalization. This compared to $19.4 billion in short positions on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and $18.4 billion in shorts on Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), the analytics firm said on the social media platform X.
Nvidia is the “largest short in the U.S. market,” S3 Partners Managing Director Ihor Dusaniwsky said in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Nvidia was sitting on an over 100% spike in its market capitalization this year, as the chipmaker clocked exponential growth in its sales and earnings on an AI-driven boom.
Its spike in value sparked some speculation that it could even overtake Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) as the most valuable company on Wall Street. Microsoft is a major customer of Nvidia.
Nvidia has been on a tear since clocking stronger-than-expected earnings in mid-May. The company had flagged second-quarter guidance at above Wall Street estimates, and had also announced a 10-for-1 stock split, which is set to be enacted later on Friday.