In the early-morning hours of Thursday, reports surfaced that cola and snack giant PepsiCo (PEP -0.62%) was in talks to buy beverage-industry disruptor SodaStream (SODA) for an unconfirmed price as high as $2 billion. After the news broke, shares of SodaStream jumped in premarket trading to nearly $96 a share but soon returned to earth after Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi told CNBC the buyout rumor was "totally and completely untrue."
The rumored buyout news was initially broken by Israeli newspaper Calcalist, but it's still unclear what source provided the paper with details that now appear to be false. One thing is for certain, though: With recent data showing that short positions represent nearly 7 million shares, or 33% of shares of outstanding, shorts positions stand to lose a lot if shares climb higher from here.
All things considered, it could prove to be quite the volatile start of summer for SodaStream's stock price -- and an especially ugly one for investors shorting the stock.
