Alcatel-Lucent (EPA:ALU)

This week is a busy week for corporate earnings announcements on both sides of the Atlantic. We highlight those stocks targeted by short sellers ahead of reported results and highlight unprecedented levels of short interest in high profile Internet names.

Stocks include: Alcatel-Lucent (EPA:ALU), LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE:LNKD), Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO), OpenTable Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN), Vestas Wind Systems A/S.

Stocks to watch

What has piqued hedge fund interest in European Technology Hardware and Equipment firms? The sector sees heavy demand to borrow the shares, with a sixth of the available supply for lending currently out on loan, making it the second most utilized sector after Consumer Durables. Although average short interest is low at 1.3% of total market cap, European Technology Hardware and Equipment firms have recorded the greatest number of stocks reaching new annual highs in short interest, including Alcatel-Lucent SA (EPA:ALU), Electrocomponents Plc (LON:ECM) and Premier Farnell (LON:PFL).

While average levels of short interest across all French equities remains low, demand to borrow is significantly higher amongst larger stocks, with media and technology focused companies bearing much of the brunt of negative investor sentiment, which has increased by a third since August. We use securities lending flows to highlight the stocks seeing the highest absolute levels of short interest as well as those seeing the fastest rate of growth.