We recently published a list of the 10 Best High Short Interest Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) stands against other high short interest stocks to buy now.

Aditya Bhave, BofA Securities head of US Economics, joined ‘Power Lunch’ on CNBC on April 17 to talk about whether tariffs are ultimately inflationary, disinflationary, or deflationary. Aditya Bhave responded that the impact depends on the magnitude of the uncertainty shock. He explained that tariffs are generally stagflationary, which means that they contribute to both inflation and economic stagnation. However, he also emphasized that it’s not just the content of the trade policy announcements that matters, but also the disruptive way in which these policies have been communicated, which has increased uncertainty for businesses. He noted that there is a scenario where the uncertainty caused by these policies could outweigh their stagflationary effects, making tariffs disinflationary instead. Bhave also referenced Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent hawkish remarks and drew a parallel to Powell’s stance during the 2021–2022 rate hiking cycle.

He highlighted Powell’s assertion that sustained full employment is not possible without price stability, which is a justification that Powell previously used for aggressive rate hikes even during a technical recession. Bhave believes the Fed is likely to maintain its focus on price stability and continue its current policy approach in the near term. Earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed and Powell in particular, notably responded to tariff-induced supply chain disruptions by aggressively stimulating the economy. Bhave argued that this aggressive response came after and not during the initial supply chain disruptions, and that while the Fed may have acted a bit late, it ultimately raised rates sharply by 425 basis points in a single year. He does not expect the Fed to repeat such aggression, but believes that the case for holding rates steady is strong right now.

Our Methodology

We first sifted through stock screeners to find companies with a short interest between 10% and 25%. We then selected the 10 stocks that were the most shorted as of April 16, but at the same time were popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. The hedge fund data was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database, which tracks the moves of over 1000 elite money managers.

Story Continues

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).Jim Cramer Is Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) the Best High Short Interest Stock to Buy Now?Merus (MRUS) Still ‘Very Speculative’

A scientist looking through a microscope conducting research in an immuno-oncology lab.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS)

Short % of Float As of April 16: 10.79%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company that develops antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes BIZENGRI, which received FDA approval as the first and only treatment indicated for adults with advanced unresectable or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma or NSCLC that harbor a neuregulin 1 (NRG1) gene fusion.

This approval was granted under accelerated approval based on overall response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR) observed in clinical trials. Continued approval for these indications may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. For BIZENGRI’s commercialization and revenue generation in the US, Merus has exclusively licensed the rights to Partner Therapeutics.

The success of this candidate will depend on its adoption by physicians. The requirement for confirmatory trials to verify the clinical benefit could also impact the long-term success and continued approval of BIZENGRI. Although collaboration revenue for 2024 decreased to $36.1 million compared to $43.9 million in 2023, the approval and subsequent commercialization of BIZENGRI represent a new revenue driver moving into 2025 and beyond.

TimesSquare Capital Management U.S. Small Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Our preferences among Health Care stocks are those companies providing novel therapies for unmet needs that deserve premium pricing, or specialized service providers. A new addition this quarter is Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS), a clinical-stage immune-oncology biotechnology company. Their pipeline consists of several programs targeting solid tumors with various bispecific antibodies.”

Overall, MRUS ranks 6th on our list of the best high short interest stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the growth potential of MRUS, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MRUS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

View Comments