Shares of Ocean Power Technologies Inc (OPTT) have nearly quadrupled in value
Shares of
Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPTT) have nearly quadrupled in value today -- last seen up 277% at $5.77 -- and, while OPTT doesn't trade
options, with almost 17 million shares traded, stock volume is at an all-time high. Sparking today's activity is news that
OPTT will lease its nearly $1 million PB3 PowerBuoy systems, which generates electricity from ocean waves, to Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co Ltd. As such, OPTT is on pace for its biggest percentage gain to date, catching short sellers off guard.
Specifically,
short interest rose 8.8% in the most recent reporting period to 60,000 shorted shares. It would take more than four sessions to cover these shorted shares, at OPTT's average daily pace of trading.
Ahead of today's trading, though, these short sellers were in the drivers seat. For starters, the stock was trading all the way up near $275 at its peak in April 2007. More recently, Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPTT) was sitting on a 74% year-over-year deficit through last night's close -- and notched a record low of $0.95 on Jan. 20. Thanks to today's bull
gap, though, OPTT has taken a comfortable lead over its 50-week
moving average, a trendline not conquered on a weekly closing basis since June 2014.
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