Short Selling

The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 22

Tue 04 Jun 24, 1:57pm (AEST)
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Welcome back to the Short Seller Series – A recap of the most heavily shorted stocks on the ASX and those experiencing significant changes to short interest over the past week.

Short selling data is four days behind today's date because reporting is not mandatory until three business days after the trade. The tables below will compare week-on-week changes between 21 and 28 May 2024.


Most Shorted

Ticker

Company

Short %

Prev Week

WoW % Chg

PLS

Pilbara Minerals

21.72%

21.48%

0.24%

IEL

Idp Education

17.05%

17.17%

-0.12%

SYR

Syrah Resources

12.85%

12.79%

0.06%

FLT

Flight Centre

10.64%

11.24%

-0.60%

ACL

Australian Clinical Labs

9.93%

9.65%

0.28%

LTR

Liontown Resources

9.85%

9.86%

-0.01%

WGX

Westgold Resources

9.57%

9.30%

0.27%

SYA

Sayona Mining

9.26%

9.15%

0.11%

CHN

Chalice Mining

8.15%

8.14%

0.01%

HLS

Healius

8.06%

7.70%

0.36%


Key themes and takeaways:

  • Pilbara Minerals, IDP Education and Syrah Resources have remained the three most shorted stocks since early February (Core Lithium once took the #3 spot)

  • Australian Clinical Labs has seen its short interest climb from around 7.5% in May to almost 10%. The pathology services provider cut its FY24 earnings guidance during February reporting season amid expectations that volume growth will remain subdued in the second half. The stock has faced further weakness after peers Sonic Healthcare lowered its FY25 earnings guidance on 22 May


Rising Shorts

Ticker

Company

Short %

Prev Week

WoW % Chg

CTT

Cettire

6.20%

4.70%

1.50%

NUF

Nufarm

4.36%

3.52%

0.84%

HLS

Healius

8.06%

7.70%

0.36%

KAR

Karoon Energy

1.00%

0.65%

0.35%

DEG

De Grey Mining

3.11%

2.76%

0.35%

VUL

Vulcan Energy Resources

6.05%

5.74%

0.31%

NVX

Novonix

4.97%

4.66%

0.31%

LTM

Arcadium Lithium

1.69%

1.39%

0.30%


Key themes and takeaways:

  • Cettire's short interest spiked in early May, jumping from around 2.7% to a little over 6.0%. This follows a raft of controversy surrounding duty charges, unpaid taxes and the poor handling of customer returns and complaints. The stock is down more than 50% in the past three months

  • Nufarm reported a weaker-than-expected first-half FY24 result on 23 May, with the stock down 7% to fresh six month lows. The result guided towards FY24 EBITDA between $350-390 million, at the midpoint, this is 12% below UBS estimates

  • Healius might have emerged as a logical short candidate after Sonic Healthcare's earnings downgrade and the underperformance of pathology peers. Short interest in the stock is sitting at record highs of 8.06%, up from 5.70% a month ago and 2.5% at the beginning of the year


Most Covered

Ticker

Company

Short %

Prev Week

WoW % Chg

BLD

Boral

0.41%

4.69%

-4.28%

REG

Regis Healthcare

0.13%

1.78%

-1.65%

GLN

Galan Lithium

0.63%

1.58%

-0.95%

QPM

Queensland Pacific Metals

0.05%

0.83%

-0.78%

FLT

Flight Centre

10.64%

11.24%

-0.60%

AWC

Alumina

0.97%

1.43%

-0.46%

NCK

Nick Scali

1.08%

1.49%

-0.41%

DMP

Domino's Pizza Enterprises

4.66%

5.05%

-0.39%

APE

Eagers Automotive

1.54%

1.92%

-0.38%

PEN

Peninsula Energy

1.19%

1.57%

-0.38%

HMC

HMC Capital

0.35%

0.71%

-0.36%

SDF

Steadfast Group

0.67%

1.03%

-0.36%

TPW

Temple & Webster

2.44%

2.79%

-0.35%

EMR

Emerald Resources

2.21%

2.55%

-0.34%

ARB

ARB Corporation

2.80%

3.13%

-0.33%

SLR

Silver Lake Resources

0.54%

0.86%

-0.32%


Key themes and takeaways:

  • Boral is set to be acquired by Seven Group, so there's really no point in shorting the stock

  • A few stocks on the list have recently completed capital raisings including Galan Lithium, Peninsula Energy and HMC Capital

  • A few socks are trading around 52-week or multi-year lows including Galan Lithium, Queensland Pacific Metals and Eagers Automotive

 

Written By

Kerry Sun

Content Strategist

Kerry holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He is an avid swing trader, focused on technical set ups and breakouts. Outside of writing and trading, Kerry is a big UFC fan, loves poker and training Muay Thai. Connect via LinkedIn or email.

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