Squeezing the Shorts: Soros Stocks

By Fred Fuld

SAN FRANCISCO (TheStreet) -- Even stocks owned by the most respected investors have their detractors. Warren Buffett holding Torchmark(TMK) has 7.6 million shares sold short and a short ratio of 8.5. T. Boone Pickens' Sunocor(SU), which makes up 7.1% of his BP Capital portfolio, has a short ratio of 5.1, with 11.7 million shares sold short.

And what about George Soros, whose portfolio at Stockpickr.com is the second most-viewed of Stockpickr's professional portfolios? Which of his holdings are attracting the most short interest?

Soros, who founded the Quantum Fund, is ranked 29th on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires, with a net worth of $11 billion. Over the years, Soros has rewarded his investors with exemplary returns. For example, a $100,000 investment in his fund when he started in 1969 would have been worth $150 million by 1994.

With success like that, it is hard to believe that investors would bet against Soros. Short interest in a Soros stock could indicate that the stock is well-positioned for a short squeeze should a positive catalyst occur. A short squeeze takes place when a heavily shorted stock is quickly bought back in by the short-sellers in an attempt to cover their bearish positions, driving the price of the stock up sharply.

With that in mind, Stockpickr has reviewed Soros' holdings and compiled a portfolio of those with short ratios of more than 7, where the short ratio measures the numbers of days it would take the short-sellers to cover their position based on recent average daily volume.

To read more, visit Stockpickr.com.

-- Written by Fred Fuld in San Francisco.

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