The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 13

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 10 and 17 March 2025

• Month-on-month changes between 18 February and 17 March 2025

Most Shorted

Key takeaways

• Top ten most shorted stocks saw minimal changes this week.

• Investors ramped up bearish bets against Boss Energy, with short interest hitting a record 23.32%, nearly ten times higher than last year. This surge coincides with uranium prices dropping to US$64 per pound — the lowest in 18 months —amid signals from the new US administration of stronger economic ties with Russia, potentially lifting sanctions on Russian nuclear fuel imports.

Rising Shorts

Key takeaways

• John Lyng faced increased short interest, rising to 7.77% vs. recent lows of 6.2% and highs of 9.2%. The stock is trading at its lowest level since January 2019, down 38% year-to-date, after 1H25 results fell short of consensus revenue and EBITDA expectations by 7% and 14%, respectively. The company also cut full-year revenue and EBITDA forecasts by 5% and 4.5%, citing a slower recovery in NSW and US headwinds. After plunging 33% on February 25, the stock continued to slide, dropping an additional 8.3%.

• Corporate Travel surged 17.5% after a strong 1H25 report, with better-than-expected earnings in ANZ and North America. Although FY25 guidance was lowered, the downgrade was less severe than anticipated and had been previously signaled. FY26 targets beat expectations, signaling a potential earnings recovery. However, the stock later faded all gains, possibly due to US DOGE spending cuts impacting airlines like United, where government travel bookings dropped 50%.

Most Covered

Key takeaways

• Syrah Resources saw short sellers covering positions as the stock rallied 48% between February 28 and March 19. Despite this, it remains down 47% year-to-date, with its Balama Graphite Mine in Mozambique still under Force Majeure due to civil unrest. UBS analysts downgraded the stock to Neutral last month, cutting their target price to 30 cents from 80 cents, noting high uncertainty and limited visibility on creditor relationships and the mine’s restart.