just to clarify what a 'short' is, as many people think of Mr...

just to clarify what a 'short' is, as many people think of Mr Burns when they think of short sellers .

As an example, a trade that is often done for a low volatility hedge fund is:

Short the stock and issue a synthetic convertible bond. This gives us downside protection AND out-performance when the market/stock goes down, AND yield from the CB with participation in the upside of the stock movement. Yes we give up some profits from the cost of the synthetic - but we manage to have almost zero volatility with such trades, and even if it remains unchanged, we are producing yield, so that is an out-performance against others sitting on idle holdings.

Not everyone or every company can participate in such trades, but it is good for people to know, and to be careful reading too much into reported 'short' positions as a sign of people expecting the stock to fall.