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

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

Sappi Stock Performance

Sappi stock traded down $0.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $0.69. 6,963 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,080. The firm has a market capitalization of $418.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.62 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $0.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.07. Sappi has a 12 month low of $0.59 and a 12 month high of $1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Sappi (OTCMKTS:SPPJY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Sappi will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Sappi

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.