FINRA's twice-monthly counts through the vaccine maker's authorisations, its 2023 going-concern disclosure and the licensing agreement announced in 2024.
Figures are the short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding, from FINRA data, 96 points between 15 Jan 2021 and 31 Dec 2024.
Novavax, Inc. began this window with 10.95% of its shares outstanding reported short on 15 Jan 2021 and fell to its low of 5.81% on 31 Mar 2021. From late 2021 the figure rose more or less continuously for two years.
The high was 47.13% on 15 Sep 2023: close to half of the entire company reported short. It stayed near that level into 2024 before falling to 23.05% by 31 Dec 2024.
The company's COVID-19 vaccine received a conditional marketing authorisation in the European Union in December 2021 and an emergency use authorisation in the United States in July 2022. In the annual report it filed in February 2023, the company said there was substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. In May 2024 it announced a licensing agreement with Sanofi, and the reported short interest fell through the second half of that year.
FINRA's days-to-cover figure peaked in this window at 13.59 days on 30 Apr 2024, after the position itself had started to come down.
A US percentage on this site is FINRA's reported shares short divided by the shares outstanding in the company's own SEC filings, counted twice a month on settlement dates rather than daily. A figure approaching half the company is unusual but not unheard of, and it says nothing on its own about the direction of anything: it is a count of open positions on one date, published two weeks in arrears.
Full history and today's figure: Novavax, Inc..
US short interest data: FINRA (finra.org). FINRA® is a registered trademark of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by FINRA or the SEC; displayed for personal reference, bulk redistribution is not permitted (see terms). The narrative describes what the published figures showed and widely reported public events around them; it is not a description of any company's prospects and is not investment advice.