What’s the stock loan fee? If hard to borrow it could make sense.
A stock will only be hard to borrow for shorting not for buying. And if it's to really short a hard-to-borrow stock, it will be to buy a put and then exercise it. It wouldn't be to buy a call. And usually when the stock is really hard to borrow, the broker wouldn't even allow you to keep the short transaction open; it will demand you to buy back the stock to close the short right away so it'll be a much ado about nothing.