- CAR stock is moving. See the chart and price action here.
CAR Keeps Squeezing
Shares of Avis are up 9.23% to $665 Tuesday, capping a staggering rally that has seen the stock surge 500% over recent weeks from lows in the $80s — a move that has left short sellers bleeding.
Barclays downgraded CAR to Sell Monday after the run, noting short interest near 100%. The downgrade has done nothing to stop the momentum.
According to Benzinga data, short interest stood near 54% of the free float as recently as late March, with an elevated days-to-cover that amplifies every uptick.
A stake disclosure from Pentwater Capital added fuel to the fire, and options gamma dynamics have market makers scrambling to hedge by buying shares — creating a classic feedback loop where rising prices force more covering, which drives prices higher still.
Potential Squeezes
Earlier this month, traders purchased over 80,000 call options on NVTS, representing a 134% spike versus the daily average.
With 28% of the float sold short, the setup looks textbook. Fundamentals remain weak — quarterly revenue cratered 59% year-over-year — but in a meme tape, that’s beside the point.
Elsewhere in the heavily-shorted universe, Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) is pushing 9.34% higher to $7.38 despite persistent analyst bearishness and a short float exceeding 52%.
Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN) is up 8.97% to $5.83, with 14.5% of the float short.
ImmunityBio Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) sits at $8.16, relatively quiet but with 43.2% of the float short and 120 million shares sold short — a powder keg should a catalyst emerge.
The broad meme tape revival echoes familiar dynamics: a frothy risk-on environment, speculative retail participation and short sellers caught offside in names with structural weaknesses that the market is temporarily choosing to ignore.
History suggests these moves can last longer — and go higher — than almost anyone expects, before reversing just as violently.
Photo: Mino Surkala / Shutterstock
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