Short Selling: A small pullback in lithium shorts + Iress, Domain and Solvar shorts in the rise

Welcome back to the Short Seller Series – A recap of the most heavily shorted stocks on the ASX as well as 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 compare:

• Week-on-week (WoW % Chg) short interest changes between 27 and 20 Feb 2024

• Month-on-month (MoM % Chg) short interest changes between 27 Feb and 31 Jan 2024

Most Shorted

Key themes and takeaways:

• Pilbara Minerals, Syrah Resources and Core Lithium remain the top three most shorted stocks on the market since late November 2023

• Core Lithium and Sayona experienced a small pullback in short interest. It's worth noting that the bulk of the recent lithium rally took place between 28 February and 4 March vs. the short data that only goes up to 27 February. We'll find out more next week.

Rising Shorts

Key themes and takeaways:

• Iress shares fell 4.8% on the day of its half-year results (21 Feb) which included the company raising its underlying EBITDA guidance for the full-year. A major talking point among analysts was the anticipated increased in software capital expenditure by 5-7% of revenue over the next 2-3 years. While this suggests a strategic investment in technology analysts expect this decision to result in higher capital expenditures and offsets the guidance upgrade.

• Domain also reported a mixed half-year result (14 Feb) with its top-line missing analyst expectations. The stock finished the session down 2.3%. Analysts flagged that Domain has trailed behind REA Group in terms of listing growth but outpaced REA in yield growth over the past three years.

Most Covered

Key themes and takeaways:

• Graphite stocks like Syrah Resources and Talga have experienced an upswing in recent weeks (in parallel with the lithium rally). However, there's a notable disparity in performance. Syrah has managed to sustain its recent gains quite well, while smaller players like Talga and Renascor are undergoing a more pronounced pullback

• IDP Education briefly rallied 15.3% on the day of its half-year results (14 Feb) but finished the session just 8.3% higher and tumbled 8.8% the next day. The result beat consensus expectations but analysts were almost universally focused on the heightened and uncertain regulatory landscape facing study placements.

• Reporting season winners including Lovisa, Bega Cheese and Adairs experienced a slight pullback in short interest (not that there was much to begin with)