Buckle, Overstock and Kodak led the FIS Astec Analytics hot stocks list for the Americas for the week starting 15 January.
US apparel and accessories retailer, Buckle, was top of the list on its debut appearance after volumes closed last week at 68 percent, despite volumes rising 25 percent over the same period.
From mid-August, utilisation grew from a low of 57 percent to peak at 97 percent in December.
Shares recovered somewhat to peak at $23 this month, before closing last week at $20.75, a net gain of just 7 percent over the year.
FIS surmises that the recent change was driven by significant buying from larger, institutional funds.
Another high-flyer for the week was Overstock, which rose to prominence among short sellers after its share price soared on the back of a blockchain project, from around $19 to a peak of almost $90 two weeks ago.
FIS highlighted that short interest was at more than 90 percent of the available shares two weeks ago, but has since decreased in volume 18 percent.
Utilisation, however, has only dropped by less than 2 percentage, which suggests supply has fallen as long investors take advantage of the high prices and sell out of Overstock, according to FIS.
Other than Buckle, the only Americas company to produce more short interest that Overstock was Eastman Kodak, the camera and imaging supplier, and, as of two weeks ago, owner of cryptocurrency KodakCoin.
Following the news of the currency launch the share price leapt 245 percent to $10.70 within two days, before closing last week at $10, after a positive reception by the market, including a partnership with Overstock subsidiary tZero.
Eastman Kodak鈥檚 shares showed the largest increase in utilisation rate on the list, up to 100 percent, over the last week before ending the week at 90 percent, according to FIS data.
tZero recently selected KodakCoin as the first third-party cryptocurrency to include on its soon-to-launch security token platform.
The cryptocurrency will be introduced later this quarter and will serve to bolster the recently announced KodakOne digital imagery platform.
For the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) hot stocks list funeral provider Dignity also took the top stop in its debut appearance.
The UK-based provider of funerals and related services saw short interest in its share price decreased by 46 percent last week and is down 60 percent over the past year to close last week on 拢9.62 after the firm issued a profit warnings for the year ahead.
After gains in mid-2017 the share price hovered around 拢24.50, before falling to under 拢16 by the start of December, after a disappointing Q3, according to FIS.
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