Sivers Semiconductors: Fresh Short Positions Emerge as Insider Activity Rattles a Halved Stock
Published on 08/30/2026 at 21:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
The bearish camp around Sivers Semiconductors is getting new company. Citadel Securities and Arrowstreet Capital both appeared on the disclosed short-seller list for the Swedish chipmaker in mid-August, just as D.E. Shaw dropped off it. The reshuffle among those betting against the stock lands at a moment when the shares are already nursing steep losses — and when questions about insider behaviour are growing louder.
The stock closed Friday at EUR 2.44, down 15 percent on the day and 27 percent lower over the past seven trading sessions. That leaves the equity trading 38 percent beneath its 50-day moving average of EUR 3.94 and a staggering 76 percent below the 52-week high of EUR 10.23 touched in early summer. With 30-day annualised volatility running at 169 percent, the market's nerves are plain to see.
A Quarterly Report That Drew Blood
The immediate trigger for the sell-off was the second-quarter 2026 interim report, published mid-week. Net sales came in at SEK 53.8 million, a 12 percent decline year on year, while adjusted EBITDA swung to a loss of SEK 35.5 million from minus SEK 20.9 million in the same period last year. The bottom line took an additional hit from a non-cash employer social-security charge of SEK 42.9 million, a quirk tied directly to the sharp run-up in the share price during the quarter.
Sweden's Dagens Industri delivered a withering verdict, branding the numbers "catastrophic" and urging investors to sell. The paper pointed to the near-600 percent surge in the stock over the preceding three months as wildly out of step with the company's profitability profile. A commissioned analysis concluded that Sivers is unlikely to turn profitable before 2028 and that fair value sits well below prevailing levels. The publication also highlighted repeated equity issuances, competitive pressure from larger industry players, and the fact that major shareholders have been trimming positions.
Management pushed back with a different lens. The order pipeline has climbed to USD 1.2 billion as of July, up 268 percent from December 2025, and the company framed the weaker quarter as a deliberate reallocation of resources away from development projects toward production-readiness preparation.
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Insider Moves Under the Microscope
The reporting season has also thrown a spotlight on share movements by those closest to the company. CEO Vickram Vathulya acquired additional shares, according to a company announcement dated 21 July. But around the same time, as lock-up obligations from a directed share issue on 16 April expired, other insiders were active in the opposite direction.
Chairman Bami Bastani donated 60,000 shares to charitable organisations, gifted 70,000 to family members, and sold 275,000 shares on 16 July. Board member Todd Thomson, via his vehicle Headwaters Capital, disposed of 950,000 shares by 22 July and gifted a further 50,000 to a charity. Kairos Ventures, also represented by Thomson, reduced its Sivers stake — a position that originally stemmed from the sale of portfolio company Mixcomm to Sivers in 2022.
The secondary article flags reports of a potentially undisclosed sale by a major shareholder, though concrete details remain murky. For investors, that ambiguity compounds an already difficult read: unclear ownership movements layered on top of growing short positions make it harder to judge whether the current pressure is fundamentally or technically driven.
Fresh Ammunition for the Bears
The arrival of Citadel and Arrowstreet as newly disclosed short sellers suggests institutional players are positioning for further downside, or at least choosing to make their bearish bets visible. For short sellers, near-term earnings momentum typically outweighs medium-term growth narratives — a plausible explanation for why new positions emerged precisely now, even as the company points to product revenue growth of 18 percent and that swelling pipeline.
On the balance sheet, Sivers has taken steps to strengthen its position. A capital raise brought in SEK 825 million gross, and a convertible loan of USD 12 million was converted into equity. Those measures improve the capital structure but do little to shift the perception that multiple professional market participants are currently betting on falling prices.
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The next major catalyst is the third-quarter interim report, scheduled for 26 November. Between now and then, the central question is whether the pipeline growth management keeps touting translates into tangible revenue — or whether the Dagens Industri critique of the business model's substance proves more accurate. With volatility at these levels and the short-seller roster in flux, the coming months look set to test both the company's story and its shareholders' patience.
