The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 34

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 14 and 20 August 2024

• Month-on-month changes between 25 June and 20 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.

• A slight pullback in lithium short interest heading into the last week of reporting season. Chinese lithium carbonate prices are sitting around 74,000 yuan a tonne, the lowest in more than three years.

Rising Shorts

Interesting takeaways:

• Nufarm's short interest has soared to record levels. The stock plummeted nearly 10% on August 15 following a 15% downgrade in FY24 EBITDA guidance to $300-330 million. Macquarie notes this isn't entirely surprising, given soft updates from global peers like Corteva and FMC, and weakening prices in China. Despite trading at five-year lows, macroeconomic headwinds and high Chinese supply may continue to pressure chemical prices.

• Uranium stocks have become targets for short sellers, but this strategy may backfire. The sector surged on Monday after Kazatomprom, the world's largest producer, cut its full-year production outlook. This news sparked a rally across uranium stocks, with Paladin Energy, Deep Yellow, and Boss Energy all gaining over 10%.

• BlueScope's FY24 results present a mixed picture. While underlying NPAT fell 22% to $860.7 million (3.8% below Citi's estimates) and 1H25 EBIT guidance missed expectations by 10%, the dividend story is more positive. The company announced a 55 cents per share dividend for FY24 and guided for 60 cents per annum going forward, exceeding estimates of 50 cents. Surprisingly, the stronger-than-expected payout overshadowed the underwhelming results.

Most Covered

Interesting takeaways:

• Westgold's short interest has declined sharply from its 31-Jul peak of 12.6%. The initial short thesis likely centered on the company's merger with Karora in early August. A key condition of this merger was the dual-listing of the combined entity on both the ASX and Toronto Stock Exchange. This arrangement could potentially lead to an imbalance, with shareholders gravitating towards one exchange while the stock underperforms on the other. However, recent surges in gold prices have bolstered Westgold shares, driving them up by over 15% in the past month.