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/The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 36
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Short Selling
/The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 36
Short Selling
The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 36
By
Kerry Sun
Tue 10 Sep 24, 3:55pm (AEDT)
Source: Shutterstock
Stocks in article
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 27 August and 3 September 2024
Month-on-month changes between 31 July and 3 September 2024
Most Shorted
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pilbara Minerals | 20.48% | -0.03% | -1.72% | |
Idp Education | 13.90% | 0.51% | 1.50% | |
Syrah Resources | 12.82% | 0.22% | 1.70% | |
Liontown Resources | 10.85% | 0.23% | -0.83% | |
Lynas Rare Earths | 10.59% | -0.13% | -0.09% | |
Strike Energy | 9.89% | -0.43% | 0.10% | |
Chalice Mining | 9.85% | -0.41% | -1.28% | |
Sayona Mining | 9.85% | 0.22% | 0.13% | |
Paladin Energy | 9.84% | 0.08% | 1.65% | |
Cettire | 9.73% | 0.27% | -0.31% |
Key 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
Rising Shorts
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Clinical Labs | 7.12% | 1.47% | 4.46% | |
Karoon Energy | 5.64% | 0.96% | 1.39% | |
Lotus Resources | 7.35% | 0.85% | 2.80% | |
Mesoblast | 3.86% | 0.83% | 1.33% | |
The Star Entertainment | 4.92% | 0.72% | 0.72% | |
Boss Energy | 9.53% | 0.65% | 1.71% | |
Mineral Resources | 8.21% | 0.60% | 1.40% | |
Fortescue | 1.44% | 0.59% | 0.76% | |
IGO | 2.90% | 0.57% | 1.60% | |
Champion Iron | 4.57% | 0.52% | 1.25% | |
Idp Education | 13.90% | 0.51% | 1.50% |
Key takeaways:
Short sellers are targeting oil stocks (Karoon Energy) and uranium developers (Lotus, Boss Energy) amid growing concerns about the global economy. Last week, Brent crude oil prices tumbled 6.6% to US$71 a barrel or the lowest level since May 2023. Uranium prices have also been under pressure, with prices trading around US$79.5 a pound or the lowest since November 2023.
Iron ore prices have dipped around 10% in September to US$91 a tonne, close to a two-year low. This downturn has driving significant short interest into two heavyweight names: Mineral Resources and Fortescue. The short thesis is pretty clear for both companies. MinRes is in a precarious position due to its heavily leveraged balance sheet (approximately $6bn market cap, $4bn debt and $2bn capex spend for FY25). This financial structure leaves MinRes particularly exposed to the current commodity price trough.
The risks to Fortescue's pure exposure to iron ore prices is compounded by ongoing capital expenditure risks associated with its ambitious push into green energy.
Most Covered
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aurizon | 1.33% | -3.29% | -2.31% | |
Healius | 3.51% | -2.96% | -3.80% | |
Weebit Nano | 5.61% | -2.59% | -3.05% | |
Nufarm | 6.29% | -1.22% | 1.13% | |
Data#3 | 2.41% | -1.18% | -1.57% | |
Platinum Asset Management | 0.68% | -1.17% | -0.60% | |
Latin Resources | 2.17% | -1.07% | -0.05% | |
Mount Gibson Iron | 0.76% | -0.81% | -0.28% | |
Endeavour Group | 1.78% | -0.77% | -0.39% | |
Webjet | 5.27% | -0.71% | -0.86% | |
Alkane Resources | 0.62% | -0.63% | -0.61% | |
Qantas | 1.34% | -0.62% | -1.08% | |
Flight Centre | 6.59% | -0.57% | -3.16% | |
Westgold Resources | 2.65% | -0.56% | -7.12% | |
Australian Strategic Materials | 2.24% | -0.53% | -0.51% | |
Block | 1.60% | -0.52% | -1.60% | |
Johns Lyng Group | 3.18% | -0.50% | -0.47% |
Key takeaways:
Aurizon's short interest has experienced significant volatility, surging from approximately 1.3% in April to a record high of 4.6% on August 27, before retreating to its original level by September. The primary catalyst appears to be the company's FY24 results, released on August 12, which fell short of analyst expectations for both earnings and dividends. Compounding this disappointment, Aurizon provided weaker-than-anticipated FY25 profit guidance, citing higher operational costs. Aurizon shares finished the session down 8.8%.
Healius has been defying short sellers, with its stock price climbing roughly 13% since announcing its FY24 results on August 19. The company's full-year EBIT of $65 million landed at the upper end of its recently revised range ($60-65m) and exceeded Macquarie's expectations by 5%. This improved performance was attributed to positive volume and revenue trends in both its pathology and imaging divisions.
Short interest is unwinding across several reporting season losers that experienced sizeable one-day selloffs and/or sustained weakness. This includes names like Nufarm, Data#3, Endeavour Group, Webjet and Johns Lyng Group
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