Avalon Holdings jumps, then deflates in fifth day of unusual trading

Avalon Holdings

30/07/2018 21:55

(Updates with closing price, volume)
** Shares of AMEX-listed Avalon Holdings Corp  AWX.A  close down
40.9 pct at $6.06 on Mon, having reversed course after being up
as much as 97.1 pct at $20.20 during the session
    ** Unusual trading in AWX persisted for a fifth straight
session on Mon. The waste management and golf course operator's
stock had risen 365.9 pct in previous four sessions. Stock had
closed at $2.20 on July 23 before trading uptick began July 24
    ** AWX also saw a sharp increase in shorting in the last few
days
    ** "People are shorting into this rally betting it's going
to reverse very quickly. I don't see any notable reason why this
stock would move so much," said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing
director at financial analytics firm S3 Partners
    ** "There's not much stock availability. Most of the stock
borrow availability has been taken down. It would be very
difficult to short more." - Dusaniwsky
    ** AWX did not immediately respond to a request for comment
    ** Trading volume 1.5 times 10-day moving avg with 5.6 mln
shares changing hands during session and several trading halts.
Before activity spike began on July 24, co's stock had traded
just over 3k shares a day on avg dating back to 1998, according
to Reuters data
    ** Shareholder MintBroker International Ltd, based in the
Bahamas, on Fri filed Form 3 with Securities and Exchange
Commission disclosing ownership of 1.9 mln shares in Avalon, or
roughly half its 3.8 mln shares outstanding, according to the
latest data from Thomson Reuters
    ** AWX free float just 1.84 mln shares (Thomson Reuters)
    ** AWX has StarMine short squeeze score of 100, indicating
the highest possible likelihood of a short squeeze
    ** Almost 1 mln shares of AWX sold short in just the last
three days. As of Mon, 970,000 shares were sold short compared
with 7,800 on July 20, according to S3 
      
      
     



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