Short Interest in Sappi Ltd. (OTCMKTS:SPPJY) Expands By 625.3%

Sappi Ltd. (OTCMKTS:SPPJY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 192,128 shares, an increase of 625.3% from the June 15th total of 26,490 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 42,365 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Sappi Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Sappi stock traded down $0.00 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $0.69. 6,963 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,080. Sappi has a twelve month low of $0.59 and a twelve month high of $1.89. The company has a market cap of $418.37 million, a PE ratio of -0.62 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.07.

Sappi (OTCMKTS:SPPJY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by ($0.04). Sappi had a negative return on equity of 4.85% and a negative net margin of 12.70%.The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sappi will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Zacks Research cut shares of Sappi from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Sell rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Sell”.

Sappi Company Profile

Sappi Limited, trading on the OTCMKTS as SPPJY, is a global pulp and paper company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Originally established in 1936 as South African Pulp and Paper Industries, Sappi has grown into a diversified manufacturer of dissolving wood pulp, graphic papers, packaging and specialty papers. The company serves customers in over 150 countries and operates a network of mills and sales offices across three key regions: Europe, North America and South Africa.

Sappi’s product portfolio is organized into several main categories.