Yahoo after the bell 6-26-06: Fourth largest short position on Nasdaq

Yahoo Inc shares are in fourth place of the largest short position on NASDAQ, with 81,271,055 in June compared with 78,281,978 in May, a 3.82% change.  While its short position is larger than Microsoft Corp shares, the latter's short position increased by 43% the past month.

In general, a short position in a stock indicates that those who hold the position think the share price (in this case Yahoo) will decline. However, since most short-position holders are hedge funds which are leveraged and hedged with long positions, it is difficult to speculate as to how this could affect Yahoo! stock price.

Meanwhile, the question some ask is whether we are seeing the end of the DVD era as downloads of movies become more common.  Apple is in the process of adding movie downloads to its iTunes store, and Microsoft is also rumored to consider selling movie downloads.  But a senior analyst with Inside Digital Media "said that Yahoo! Inc and Google Inc will probably become more formidable competitors to Apple in the online video market."

Yahoo shares gained 18 cents today (0.57%) and closed at $31.55.