jbog, I realize it's at 85%, but stocks like CRM are at 101%, and I have seen stocks at 120% several times, often with a large short interest. CRM also has a short ratio of 2.9, which is about 8% of the stock sold short.
At 120% long and a large short interest, that made me conclude, many of the shorts are also long, it was the only thing that made sense. Of course, shorts are often hedged against a warrant, bond or stock offering when appropriate.
I think the short interest in these cases is used to mask any selling by funds, and it does tie up more of the float, control of the float can be used to move a stock either way.
BB and PK stocks are difficult to short and microcap stocks don't have options, so they tend not to be shorted very often, and I would look at a large short interest in those stocks as a bigger negative.
I believe if they eliminated options stocks would behave much more rationally, but it is what it is. IMO options now influence stock prices day to day more than news does, taking into account most news really means nothing. News like BIIB is rare.
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