Consumer staples are a good way to shield oneself from an economic downturn, as households should continue to gravitate towards familiar brands in good times and bad. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food manufacturer in North America, with iconic brands such as Oscar Mayer, Heinz Ketchup, Velveeta, and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The company has a strong presence in both developed and emerging markets, with over 200 brands in its portfolio and sales in 190 countries. Kraft Heinz is working to improve its organizational efficiency, with the goal of $2 billion in annual cost savings by 2024. The company is also partnering with top QSR brands in international markets, which is seeing an even faster rate of growth.

As we can see from the chart above, the percentage of shares that are sold short for Kraft Heinz (KHC) has declined since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to rise in the near-term, but traders should be aware that fewer shares are being shorted.

Comparing Kraft Heinz's Short Interest Against Its Peers. Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis.

Kraft Heinz's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 4.67%, which means the company has less short interest than most of its peers.