Short selling should not be a problem for this company. Management can protect the shareholders by requiring underwriters to warrant they have not/will not short sell the stock, but that seems quite unnecessary. A lot of Dot.coms were actively shorted because there was no chance they would succeed. And there have been situations where there was out and out fraud in the US. But NOT could report big at any time, and the short is underwater. Naked or not, the liability and margin are the same, unless his Broker is Santa Claus, in which case Santa will cover and have a "bad debt". There is no big proxy battle going on in NOT as well. So, look for a more logical rationale for the current price level. And it is quite simple: overall frustration with the market; post 2007 gains realized;fear of the FED agenda which is worrying the toughest pros; fear of recession causing weak metals prices. etc., etc. But when these factors recede and valuation factors firm up, demand may outstrip supply in a flash.