Top 10 Potential Short-Squeeze Bank Stocks

Another highly shorted bank stock is FNB Corp(FNB Quote), which has a short ratio of 16. FNB is another Pennsylvania-based bank holding company that also serves Ohio and Tennessee with its insurance, consumer finance and wealth management divisions. FNB will host its third-quarter earnings conference call on Friday, Oct. 19. The stock has a P/E of 14, a PEG of 2.7 and a yield of 5.5%.

FNB is also listed among the Top Dividend Raisers With Lowest P/Es, a portfolio that also includes State Auto Financial(STFC Quote), a property and casualty insurance company with a very high short ratio of 20, and Parker-Hannifin(PH Quote), a hydraulic manufacturing company that has a short ratio of 4.

Another heavily shorted bank stock is Oriental Financial Group(OFG Quote), with a short ratio of 9. This Puerto Rico-based bank holding company owns Oriental Bank and Trust. In the last week of September, Executive Vice President Lidio Soriano bought 24,500 shares of the company's stock for prices between $11 and $11.64. The stock, which closed Tuesday at $11.60, has a forward P/E of 11, a PEG of 2 and a yield of 4.5%.

Oriental Financial was recently featured in Barron's Insider Purchases 10-13-2007, a list of the largest insider purchases mentioned in the weekly publication. Other stocks on the list are Aircastle(AYR Quote), a jet aircraft leasing company with a short ratio of 4.4, and Par Pharmaceutical(PRX Quote), a generic-drug manufacturer with a short ratio of 6.

For the rest of the stocks on the list, check out the Top Short-Squeeze Bank Stocks, including one with a short ratio of more than 50.

Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider Oriental Financial Group to be a small-cap stock. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.