2 Short Squeezes for Summer Speculation: What the Bears Are Getting Wrong

2 Short Squeezes for Summer Speculation: What the Bears Are Getting Wrong Written by Thomas Hughes | Reviewed by Shannon Harms July 7, 2026 Share Link copied to clipboard. Key Points Wendy's, with 33% short interest, could see a short squeeze as new CEO Bob Wright pursues digital initiatives and international growth ahead of August earnings. AST Space Mobile faces short interest above 20% despite long-term 5G contracts with carriers like Verizon and Vodafone and nearly $4 billion in liquidity. Both companies carry Reduce consensus ratings, but underlying analyst data show majority Hold or Buy ratings and potential upside in their price targets. MarketBeat previews top five stocks to own in August . Short sellers are often among the most disciplined investors on Wall Street, willing to sell into markets that everyone else is buying. The question is what happens when the short sellers get the story wrong. The answer is often a sharp stock price correction. In this case, the correction would be to higher levels, because a broken bear thesis can be good news for investors. Get Wendy's alerts: Sign Up Wendy’s: Industry Veteran Takes Charge Wendy's Today WEN Wendy's $7.90 -0.70 (-8.14%) As of 07/6/2026 04:00 PM Eastern 52-Week Range $6.07 ▼ $12.00 Dividend Yield 7.09% P/E Ratio 10.13 Price Target $8.56 Add to Watchlist Wendy’s NASDAQ: WEN is a high-profile short-squeeze candidate with its 33% short interest a target of meme-stock investors. The cause for short interest is simple: struggling growth, margin pressures, and lack of traction following managerial missteps. The caveat for short-sellers is that their view is often rear-oriented, focused on past results and fails to account for strategic shifts. As it stands, short interest is likely to remain high, keeping pressure on the market, but catalysts ahead could trigger a squeeze. Among them is new CEO Bob Wright. He is not only a veteran of Wendy’s, having served in several capacities before moving on to new opportunit...