Featured stocks: Autonomy Corp and Iron Mountain Inc

Autonomy Corp (LON:AU) announced an agreement to buy selected assets of U.S. information management company Iron Mountain Inc.'s (NYSE:IRM) digital division for $380 million in cash.

Data and information management company, Iron Mountain Inc has been in the news following demands in March from Elliott Management Corp, which holds 5% of the company, for better returns for shareholders, according to the Boston Globe. Short interest is at its highest level since July 2009 at over 6% of the total shares outstanding on loan, which is around three times the average across the S&P500. Long only investors who make their stock available to be borrowed have decreased their holdings by a third since February, despite the share price surging. Iron Mountain's CEO was quoted stating that the transaction is another step in the company's three-year strategic plan, unveiled in April.

London listed Autonomy, which makes software that helps companies monitor e-mails, phone calls and documents, claimed the acquisition will strengthen its “cloud offering” through the integration of Iron Mountain’s digital archiving and recovery solutions, according to the Wall Street Journal. UBS described it as a low-risk acquisition and increased its price target on Autonomy, maintaining its buy rating. However, some investors are skeptical about Autonomy. With 7.49% of its shares outstanding on loan, short interest is almost four times higher than the average across the FTSE100 and this is after short sellers covered positions from an annual high of 11.26% in early March, ahead of the surge in the share price in mid-April. It is worth noting the company has a convertible bond in issue, which could inflate the amount of stock on loan.