Short Squeeze Ideas: 9 Highly Shorted Cash-Rich Stocks With Institutional Buying

If you are looking to profit from short squeezes, the following list might provide you with an interesting starting point for your own analysis.

To compile this list, we focused on companies with the following characteristics:

• Short float above 10%
• Levered Free Cash Flow to Current Market Cap above 10%
• Experienced net institutional investor buying over the last two quarters

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Knowing this information, and considering your own analysis: which of these stocks are you most bullish about?

1. US Airways Group, Inc. (LCC): Major Airlines Industry. Market cap of $1.32B. Short float at 15.95%. TTM levered free cash flow at 556.00M, which represents about 42.24% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 3.4M shares during the current quarter and 4.1M shares during the previous quarter. The stock has gained 22.62% over the last year.

2. SUPERVALU Inc. (SVU): Grocery Stores Industry. Market cap of $2.33B. Short float at 21.58%. TTM levered free cash flow at 625.88M, which represents about 26.89% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 17.7M shares during the current quarter and 3.2M shares during the previous quarter. Exhibiting strong upside momentum--currently trading 16.53% above its SMA20, 27.09% above its SMA50, and 15.22% above its SMA200. The stock has had a good month, gaining 28.6%.

3. Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD): Resorts & Casinos Industry. Market cap of $777.29M. Short float at 30.12%. TTM levered free cash flow at 188.96M, which represents about 24.31% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 3.8M shares during the current quarter and 250.1K shares during the previous quarter. The stock has lost 23.84% over the last year.

4. Power-One Inc. (PWER): Diversified Electronics Industry. Market cap of $823.91M. Short float at 37.49%. TTM levered free cash flow at 179.87M, which represents about 21.83% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 1.7M shares during the current quarter and 39.4M shares during the previous quarter. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.22). The stock is currently stuck in a downtrend, trading -5.43% below its SMA20, -8.04% below its SMA50, and -21.26% below its SMA200.

5. Boise Inc. (BZ): Paper & Paper Products Industry. Market cap of $733.08M. Short float at 28.21%. TTM levered free cash flow at 125.87M, which represents about 17.17% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 4.4M shares during the current quarter and 5.2M shares during the previous quarter. Might be undervalued at current levels, with a PEG ratio at 0.61, and P/FCF ratio at 4.11. The stock has gained 23.56% over the last year.

6. CBIZ, Inc. (CBZ): Business Services Industry. Market cap of $357.21M. Short float at 20.35%. TTM levered free cash flow at 60.92M, which represents about 17.05% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 4.9M shares during the current quarter and 1.5M shares during the previous quarter. Relatively low correlation to the market (beta = 0.53), which may be appealing to risk averse investors.

7. The Talbots Inc. (TLB): Apparel Stores Industry. Market cap of $384.51M. Short float at 29.17%. TTM levered free cash flow at 60.81M, which represents about 15.81% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 101.1K shares during the current quarter and 1.8M shares during the previous quarter. It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 9.09% over the last week.

8. InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC): Wireless Communications Industry. Market cap of $2.08B. Short float at 18.07%. TTM levered free cash flow at 280.14M, which represents about 13.46% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 903.1K shares during the current quarter and 2.6M shares during the previous quarter. The stock has gained 58.93% over the last year.

9. JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU): Airlines Industry. Market cap of $1.59B. Short float at 19.77%. TTM levered free cash flow at 159.62M, which represents about 10.01% of the company's market cap. On a net basis, institutional investors bought 12.0M shares during the current quarter and 7.5M shares during the previous quarter.

*Cash flows sourced from Yahoo! Finance, institutional flows sourced from Fidelity, other relevant data sourced from Finviz.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.