RE:RE:Shorts will win on betting against SuncorMgmt isn't buying stock back at half price, they are buying it back at market price and the market price is being set by the shorts. The shorts are taking their cues from the intention of institutions who are exiting SU.
The fact that SU is buying back 7 millon shares per month might provide shareholders with a sense of security, but in the past month, the short position unwound by 62 million shares which equates to 9 months of buying from SU under its NCIB.
In fact, the MOC and LOC end of day trades are often close to the size that would accomodate an entire month of NCIB share buybacks by SU. That should give everyone an idea of how irrelevent the NCIB is at this time in relation to the share price.
The fact that the short interest dropped by 62 million shares in the past month is likely an indication that they Shorts don't want to be exposed when SU announces its Q3 numbers.
Shorts don't like good news and they don't like ex-dvidend dates. Unless SU has dropped the ball once again on a massive scale, the Q3 financials should be great.
SU has not been trading on fundamentals. As long as the company keeps working on driving down costs via efficient operations, and oil prices remain high, the spring just keeps getting wound tighter and tighter. The real question is: Who is going to end up owning SU when the games are over?
Don't think the Shorts will be left holding the bag. They move fast and they always have the ESG institutional sellers to feed them shares....until they don't. The frustrating part in all of this is that SU's mgmt is not being proactive when it could be.