Raymond James Upgrades DISH Stock as Short Sellers Move In

Short interest is at a two-year high

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) is trading 3.5% higher today at $32.14, after receiving bullish attention from Raymond James. The brokerage firm said it's a good time to buy DISH shares, upgrading to "strong buy," with the company standing to benefit during the 5G rollout as U.S. carriers look for spectrum bands. (In early 2018, some valued DISH Network's spectrum assets at over $30 billion.) This upbeat view goes against some recent action across Wall Street.

Specifically, short interest has been rising on the TV provider, up 21.5% in the past two reporting periods. This puts roughly 16.9 million shares in the hands of short sellers, equating to 5.5 days' worth of buying power, based on average trading volumes. This also marks a two-year high for short interest on DISH.

In the options pits today, the most popular contract by a mile is the September 22.50 put, where 3,500 contracts have traded. This strike was home to 6,655 puts coming into today, so new positions may not be opening here, especially since implied volatilities are moving lower. From a broader stance, put open interest for contracts expiring within three months shows an advantage for puts, according to the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.29.

Today's price action has DISH Networking testing its 20-day moving average for the first time since last month's sell-off, sparked by news that the company was buying Sprint's (S) prepare wireless business. Technical traders should also be aware of the 320-day moving average for DISH, one of our favorite long-term trendlines, as it has flattened out in recent weeks and is looming right overhead in the $33 area, capping the stock's upside move on Aug. 8.