SoftBank Group's stock surged 25.3% in September. This rally inflicted approximately $1 billion in paper losses on short sellers this month. The price action fuels speculation of an imminent short squeeze.
Bearish bets against the Japanese tech investor climbed to a one-year high. Short interest currently represents 2.27% of the company's float. The total value of short positions reached $3.9 billion, the highest level since at least 2015.
Renewed investor enthusiasm for OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model drove the upward momentum. Some analyses suggest SoftBank remains significantly overvalued based on fundamentals. The company currently maintains a low financial strength rating.