The short interest on 22 out of 38 consumer staple stocks—part of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLP)—rose in July vs. the previous month, while short interest for the remaining 24 stocks saw a fall in their short interest.
Short bets rose for 8 out of 12 industries in the consumer staples sector. However, the average grand total short interest increased to 2.46% in July from 2.20% in June for defensives.
Industry Analysis:
In the consumer defensive/staples sector, Brewers remained the most shorted industry, with an average short interest of 9.08% vs. the previous month’s 7.73%.
Distillers and Vintners were the second-most shorted industry and had the second-highest short interest of 8.73% in July, vs. 7.93% last month.
Short interest for consumer staples in July (Seeking Alpha) 
Short interest in Household Products segment was lowest at 1.22% vs. 1.26% prior. Followed by Tobacco and Soft Drinks and Non-alcoholic Beverages segment, which was the second-lowest segment, with a short interest of 1.39% vs. 1.48%.
Short interest, which could potentially be an indicator of pessimism, calculates the number of shares sold against the company’s float. (Short Interest % = Number of Shares Sold Short ÷ Stock Float). To note, consumer staples often underperform in rising markets but beat the falls.
Least shorted stocks:
- Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG): 0.72% vs. 0.67% last month
- Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM): 0.75% vs. 0.74%
- Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO): 0.83% vs. same.
- Walmart (NYSE:WMT): 0.85% vs. 0.84%
- Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST): 1.26% vs. 1.28%
Most shorted stocks:
- Campbell Soup (NASDAQ:CPB): 13.59% vs. 11.95%
- Brown-Forman (NYSE:BF.B): 10.47% vs. 9.79%
- Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP): 8.14% vs. 7.73%
- Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR): 7.61% vs. 6.92%
- Hershey Foods (NYSE:HSY): 7.03% vs. 6.69%
The S&P 500’s consumer staples sector ETF (NYSEARCA:XLP) lost 2.3% in June, compared to broader S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) gain of 4.53%.
ETFs to tab consumer staples: (NYSEARCA:VDC), (NYSEARCA:IYK), (NYSEARCA:FSTA), (NYSEARCA:KXI), (NYSEARCA:FXG), (NYSEARCA:RSPS).