Stock of the Day: Grubb & Ellis Co (NYSE: GBE)

The Wall Street Journal reported that Grubb & Ellis, one of the oldest commercial-real-estate brokerages in the US, appointed JMP Securities last month to help it explore "strategic options," including a sale or merger. The piece speculated one possible buyer could be private-equity investor Colony Capital LLC, which last week provided a USD 18 million short-term loan.

As the share price has fallen to levels not seen since August 2008, short interest has increased from 5% of total shares outstanding on loan in mid-March to 7.4% total shares outstanding on loan. This represents over 85% of the stock that is available to be borrowed from long only funds who lend, meaning it would be hard to short more of the company.