Short Selling: Pilbara Minerals and Syrah remain the most shorted stocks, Appen shorts ease
Pilbara Minerals, Syrah Resources, and Core Lithium remain the most shorted stocks on the ASX
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Mentioned
KEY POINTS
- Pilbara Minerals, Syrah Resources, and Core Lithium remain the most shorted stocks on the ASX
- Develop Global sees rising short interest due to market focus on battery metal stocks
- Appen's drastic share decline due to Google contract termination prompts slight unwinding of short interest in the stock
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 19 and 31 January 2024. The rising and falling short interest ranks stocks based on largest WoW change.
Most Shorted
Ticker | Company | Short % | WoW % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|
Pilbara Minerals | 20.56% | -0.63% | |
Syrah Resources | 17.32% | 0.96% | |
Core Lithium | 12.66% | 0.04% | |
Sayona Mining | 11.53% | 0.16% | |
Idp Education | 10.28% | 0.06% | |
Deep Yellow | 9.28% | 0.61% | |
Genesis Minerals | 9.13% | 0.16% | |
Weebit Nano | 8.78% | 0.30% | |
Flight Centre | 8.35% | 0.00% | |
Chalice Mining | 7.60% | 0.81% |
Pilbara Minerals, Syrah Resources and Core Lithium remain the top three most shorted stocks on the market. It's been like this since late November.
Thematically, short interest remains focused on large cap/liquid lithium exposure (aka Pilbara Minerals) and beleaguered battery metal players.
Rising Shorts
Develop Global owns and operates several mining projects in Australia, including the Sulphur Springs Project, the Woodlawn zinc-copper Project and the recently acquired Pioneer Dome lithium project. The company's December quarter noted significant progress in its strategy to establish a portfolio of high-quality Australian battery metals assets. The market's focus on shorting battery metal stocks might explain the recent uptick in DVP shorts. To add some perspective, short interest in the stock was around 0.2% in December 2023.
Silver Mines experienced a timely uptick in short interest as the stock was halted on February 1 to undertake a $10 million capital raise at 13.5 cents per share, or a 20.5% discount to its previous close. Unsurprisingly, the stock finished the next session down 20.5% to 13.5 cents. A win for the new short sellers.
Short Covering
Ticker | Company | Short % | WoW % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|
Appen | 5.29% | -0.96% | |
APM Human Services | 1.34% | -0.88% | |
Iluka Resources | 2.30% | -0.72% | |
Polynovo | 3.82% | -0.67% | |
Megaport | 2.35% | -0.67% | |
Pilbara Minerals | 20.56% | -0.63% | |
IPH | 3.04% | -0.45% | |
Jumbo Interactive | 0.41% | -0.45% | |
Super Retail Group | 3.35% | -0.45% | |
Argosy Minerals | 4.39% | -0.41% |
Appen shares tumbled -40% on Monday, 22 January, bringing its 12-month performance to an unthinkable -89.5%. The selloff was accompanied by an announcement about major customer Google terminating its contract. To add some perspective, Google accounted for $82.8 million of Appen's FY23 revenue. Shorts have now started to unwind slightly from the stock.
