Short Stocks: Bets build against Bristol Myers, Dell, Palm

NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Short interest rose slightly on
the New York Stock Exchange and edged lower on the Nasdaq in
the second half of November, data from both exchanges showed on
Wednesday.

The following list shows stocks that saw increased interest
from short sellers, who bet that a certain stock's price will
fall, and key recent news events for those stocks. The data
reflect short trades with a settlement date of Nov. 30.

For factboxes on short interest see [ID:nN09177947] and
[ID:nN09152470].

BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB (BMY.N)

Short interest in the company rose 141.2 percent.

AstraZeneca Plc's (AZN.L) experimental Brilinta blood clot
preventer began working much faster than widely-used Plavix and
the intended effect wore off more quickly, according to data
from a mid-stage study presented on Nov. 18. Plavix is the
standard of care with annual sales of about $9 billion for
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis SA (SASY.PA).

About 48.4 million of the company's shares were held
short.

SYNOVUS FIN CORP (SNV.N)

Short interest in the company rose 53.1 percent.

On Nov. 23, brokerage Collins Stewart cut its price target
on Synovus by 69 percent and said the company needs about $700
million in additional capital.

About 40.4 million of the company's shares were held
short.

DELL INC (DELL.O)

Short interest in the company rose 34.7 percent.

Dell's quarterly profit plunged 54 percent on
lower-than-expected sales as it lost market share to
competitors, the company reported on Nov. 19.

About 51 million of the company's shares were held short.

PALM INC PALM.O

Short interest rose 18.5 percent.

Palm shares rose 8.3 percent to $12.40 on Nov. 13 as
takeover speculation resurfaced, but mostly fell the rest of
the month to close at $10.91 on Nov. 30.

About 56.5 million of the company's shares were held
short.