The daily SHO report shares are NOT the same as short interest. Short interest, reported 2x per month, has been immaterial for a long time. The SHO reports include much more than just the traditional shorting. Unfortunately, I have never seen anyone give a good, complete explanation of what the SHO report numbers mean. I have seen those numbers go up a lot when discount convertible notes were being converted, though. I think the reason is that often the shares to be received when converting have not yet been delivered before those shares are sold. Those are then technically shorted shares, for purposes of the daily short reports.