The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 22
Stocks including Cettire, Nufarm and Healius have experienced the largest week-on-week uptick in short interest.
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Mentioned
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pilbara Minerals | 21.72% | 21.48% | 0.24% | |
Idp Education | 17.05% | 17.17% | -0.12% | |
Syrah Resources | 12.85% | 12.79% | 0.06% | |
Flight Centre | 10.64% | 11.24% | -0.60% | |
Australian Clinical Labs | 9.93% | 9.65% | 0.28% | |
Liontown Resources | 9.85% | 9.86% | -0.01% | |
Westgold Resources | 9.57% | 9.30% | 0.27% | |
Sayona Mining | 9.26% | 9.15% | 0.11% | |
Chalice Mining | 8.15% | 8.14% | 0.01% | |
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boral | 0.41% | 4.69% | -4.28% | |
Regis Healthcare | 0.13% | 1.78% | -1.65% | |
Galan Lithium | 0.63% | 1.58% | -0.95% | |
Queensland Pacific Metals | 0.05% | 0.83% | -0.78% | |
Flight Centre | 10.64% | 11.24% | -0.60% | |
Alumina | 0.97% | 1.43% | -0.46% | |
Nick Scali | 1.08% | 1.49% | -0.41% | |
Domino's Pizza Enterprises | 4.66% | 5.05% | -0.39% | |
Eagers Automotive | 1.54% | 1.92% | -0.38% | |
Peninsula Energy | 1.19% | 1.57% | -0.38% | |
HMC Capital | 0.35% | 0.71% | -0.36% | |
Steadfast Group | 0.67% | 1.03% | -0.36% | |
Temple & Webster | 2.44% | 2.79% | -0.35% | |
Emerald Resources | 2.21% | 2.55% | -0.34% | |
ARB Corporation | 2.80% | 3.13% | -0.33% | |
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
