Block hits 20-week low after Hindenburg short on shares
23/03/2023 13:55
(Updates)
** Shares of Block Inc SQ.N tumble 19.4% to $58.57
** SQ drops as much as 22.2% to $56.50 - lowest level
since early November
** Hindenburg Research says it holds short positions in the
Jack Dorsey-led payments firm
** SQ on track for its worst day in three years
** Block has wildly overstated its genuine user counts and
has understated its customer acquisition costs, the short seller
alleges
** Block did not immediately respond to a Reuters request
for comment
** SQ is the most trending stock on retail investor forum
Stocktwits.com; top traded stock on NYSE
** About 5.2% of Block's free float shares were in short
position as of March 22, according to Ortex data
** Nearly 19 mln shares of SQ traded so far, almost 1.5x
25-day moving average vols
** Peer PayPal Holdings PYPL.O slides 3.2%
** SQ has fallen 8.4% this year
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar, Medha Singh and Shreyashi
Sanyal in Bengaluru)
((BansariMayur.Kamdar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@BansariKamdar;))