MADRID, 29 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Enagás and Solaria are currently the Ibex 35 companies that suffer the most from the bearish ‘attacks’ of the ‘hedge funds’, standing out above the other seven companies of the Madrid selective that register significant short positions, according to the notifications published by the National Commission of the Stock Market (CNMV) and compiled by Europa Press.

The short positions in Enagás and Solaria contrast with the good performance of both companies on the stock market, especially the latter, which has risen in value by nearly 90% so far this year.

The XTB analyst Darío García has explained in statements to Europa Press that the pressure from the bears is “something normal” and that it is produced by a “mix of factors”, among them, a difference between the book value of the company and the valuation made by investors on the stock market.

García has indicated that the war in Ukraine has led investors to have a certain “sensitivity” to the “great dependence” that Europe has on fossil fuels, with Russia as the main supplier for the continent.

This situation joins the strong commitment to renewable energies that the European Union already contemplated previously in the requirements to receive Next Generation EU funds and that could now be increased in order to reduce dependence on Russia.

In addition, energy companies are considered defensive securities against possible recessions in the economic cycle, a fear that has hovered over stock markets around the world due to high inflation, the impact of rate hikes and the new bottlenecks due to ‘zero Covid’ policy in China.

Although, García indicates that the European economy will still depend on gas from Russia, especially for heating systems, as well as oil, since most vehicles purchased in Europe are internal combustion.

In this context, Solaria registered a revaluation of 90% between December 30 and May 27, while Enagás increased its value on the Stock Market by 7% and Red Eléctrica by 4%. These are the three companies in the energy sector that register short positions, especially Solaria and Enagás.

With regard to Enagás, there are four hedge funds that have a short position equal to or greater than 0.5% – the threshold from which the presence of bears in companies is notified -: BlackRock Investment Management, Covalis Capital, Millenium Capital Partners and AllianceBernstein, which in total have a position of 3.54%.

In Solaria, the hedge funds Odey AM, AHL Partners and Helikon Investments are the main bearers, adding around 2.61%, although Odey has been reducing its position since the maximum reached in August 2021, of 1, 8%, to 1.41% notified on May 11, according to CNMV records.

For their part, AHL and Helikon have increased their position slightly, to 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. In the case of Helikon, its downward pressure is far from the maximum level recorded in May 2021 with 1.21%.

In addition, this week the Marshall Wace fund, which had 0.71% of shares shorted in Solaria at the end of April, has reduced its position below 0.5%.

As for Red Eléctrica, it is also under the ‘attack’ of a bearish bottom; specifically, of Millennium International Management, which last Thursday notified the increase of its position to 0.620%, from 0.560% that it registered at the beginning of this week.

Within the energy sector, Siemens Gamesa is also under pressure from a bearish player, from AQR Capital Management, which on May 6 reported a position of 0.5%, although it occurred days before it became known that its parent company, Siemens Energy intends to launch a voluntary takeover bid for the 32.9% that it does not own of its Spanish subsidiary.

The other five companies that have short positions are ACS, Cellnex, Ferrovial, Fluidra and Grifols. Regarding ACS and Ferrovial, García has indicated that it could be explained by a possible indirect impact on both companies of the real estate bubble that is brewing in the United States.

Specifically, these two companies have a high exposure to the United States, where the indicator of the average price of housing with respect to the average salary would be at levels higher than those recorded in 2008 before the subprime mortgage crisis.

As for Fluidra, the expert attributes the downward “attack” to its relevant exposure to Russia, while Cellnex would be impacted by the operation with CK Hutchison in the United Kingdom.