Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Short-Swing Short Squeeze

Avis

Over the past few weeks, Avis Budget Group Inc. had a short squeeze. (We talked about it a couple of weeks ago.) Two hedge funds, SRS Investment Management LLC and Pentwater Capital Management LP, owned about 69% of its stock, or 108% (!) if you include derivative positions. Other investors were at one point short something like 49% of its stock. This apparently became unsustainable, some short sellers capitulated and had to buy back the stock, and the stock ripped up. And then it ended. The stock closed at $99.90 on March 20, got all the way to $713.97 ...