The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 32

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 31 July and 6 August 2024

• Month-on-month changes between 2 July and 6 August 2024

Most Shorted

Interesting takeaways:

• Pilbara Minerals and IDP Education: Remain the two most shorted stocks on the market. The two stocks have retained the top spots since early February

• Cettire: Short interest has topped 10% for the first time on record, up from around 7.5% a month ago. Sales are starting to unwind at some of the world's top fashion brands, which have called out softening demand from key markets including China and Europe. The wold's largest luxury goods player LVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton and Dior reported a 14% drop in Q2 sales for the Asia region. These headwinds add on top of the company's recent controversy about how it collects duties and taxes from customers.

Rising Shorts

Interesting takeaways:

• Guzman Y Gomez: Short interest is starting to accumulate after GYG's debut on 20 June 2024. The short thesis is pretty straightforward: GYG is valued at 32.5x forecast FY25 EBTIDA, a hefty price compared to peers like Collins Food and Domino's Pizza which trade at around 5x and 10x respectively. Last month, Domino's announced a review focusing on the optimisation of its store network, particularly in Japan and France. The announcement sent Domino's shares sharply lower, down 8.2% to levels not seen since March 2013.

• Uranium shorts are on the rise: There's been a broad uptick in short interest among uranium names like Deep Yellow, Lotus Resources, Paladin Energy and Boss Energy. Uranium prices fell to US$81/lb in August, a fresh nine month low amid easing supply concerns and a broader shift risk-off tone for markets.

Most Covered

Interesting takeaways:

• Westgold: The company successfully merged with Karora in early August, with a condition to dual-list on both the ASX and Toronto Stock Exchange. This dual-listing requirement may have sparked the bearish thesis, as shareholders often flock to one exchange while the stock struggles on the other. However, with gold prices soaring to record highs and WGX's aspirational production goals – shorters might have no choice but to cover into recent share price strength.

• Covering into weakness: Short sellers are covering into weakness for several struggling tech, resource and discretionary names. This includes (one month performance): Talga Group (-18.9%), Audinate (-45.2%), Argosy (-58%) and Arafura Rare Earths (-16%)