Is California Resources Rising due to Short Covering?

On December 21, 2016, California Resources’ total shares shorted, also known as its short interest, stood at ~13.7 million. Its average daily volume was ~2.8 million, meaning that its short interest ratio was ~4.85x.

The company’s current short interest as a percentage of its shares outstanding is ~33.3%, the highest out of all other upstream companies that make up the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP).

As seen in the chart above, California Resources’ short interest as a percentage of its shares outstanding has fallen sharply, from ~41% to ~33%, despite the ~90% rise in its stock price since the first week of November 2016.

Other upstream companies Denbury Resources (DNR), Marathon Oil (MRO), and Encana (ECA) have short interests as percentages of shares outstanding of ~19%, ~5%, and ~2%, respectively.