• Betmakers is the most shorted stock on the ASX for the second straight month ahead of Flight Centre
  • Sayona Mining and St Barbara lead list of resources stocks in the top 50 of ASX most shorted stocks
  • Healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks are also being targeted by short-sellers heading into December

How does shorting work?

Shorting works by selling stocks you do not actually own in the hope of buying them back at a lower price. Investors are in effect betting they will fall.

Because shorting is restricted under Australian law, any substantial shorting of stocks is worth knowing about, even if you only trade long.

Stockhead has utilised the number of short positions as a percentage of total shares on issue. The most ASX shorted stocks  (excluding CDIs) all have 5% or more.

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code Company Short positions Shares on issue % short positions
BET BETMAKERS TECH GROUP ORDINARY 141,590,940 933,093,666 15%
FLT FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL ORDINARY 28,937,920 200,123,402 14%
DMP DOMINO PIZZA ENTERPR ORDINARY 9,972,776 86,592,390 12%
MP1 MEGAPORT LIMITED ORDINARY 16,424,673 158,165,115 10%
SYA SAYONA MINING LTD ORDINARY 810,109,237 8,499,797,438 10%
PPT PERPETUAL LIMITED ORDINARY 5,304,876 57,308,133 9%
NAN NANOSONICS LIMITED ORDINARY 26,223,006 302,027,879 9%
BRG BREVILLE GROUP LTD ORDINARY 11,729,947 142,781,365 8%
SBM ST BARBARA LIMITED ORDINARY 66,082,153 815,839,345 8%
LKE LAKE RESOURCES ORDINARY 110,748,059 1,391,298,709 8%
ZIP ZIP CO LTD.. ORDINARY 56,166,772 705,679,653 8%
TPW TEMPLE & WEBSTER LTD ORDINARY 8,483,906 120,893,504 7%
NXT NEXTDC LIMITED ORDINARY 29,985,328 456,699,580 7%
VUL VULCAN ENERGY ORDINARY 9,099,974 143,335,301 6%
BRN BRAINCHIP LTD ORDINARY 108,437,497 1,726,862,144 6%
CCX CITY CHIC COLLECTIVE ORDINARY 14,388,870 231,920,086 6%
JBH JB HI-FI LIMITED ORDINARY 6,543,564 109,333,981 6%
CUV CLINUVEL PHARMACEUT. ORDINARY 2,954,644 49,410,338 6%
BGL BELLEVUE GOLD LTD ORDINARY 61,984,077 1,047,527,354 6%
PBH POINTSBET HOLDINGS ORDINARY 17,991,047 305,679,271 6%
AWC ALUMINA LIMITED ORDINARY 167,790,019 2,901,681,417 6%
IEL IDP EDUCATION LTD ORDINARY 15,986,667 278,336,211 6%
GOR GOLD ROAD RES LTD ORDINARY 61,211,584 1,075,932,298 6%
KGN KOGAN.COM LTD ORDINARY 6,069,757 107,044,098 6%
NIC NICKEL INDUSTRIES ORDINARY 154,556,277 2,731,273,497 6%
ABB AUSSIE BROADBAND ORDINARY 13,431,749 237,665,276 6%
EVN EVOLUTION MINING LTD ORDINARY 102,564,606 1,834,914,135 6%
ARB ARB CORPORATION. ORDINARY 4,497,834 81,971,722 5%
APX APPEN LIMITED ORDINARY 6,729,835 123,446,356 5%
CGC COSTA GROUP HOLDINGS ORDINARY 25,035,809 464,546,466 5%
BLD BORAL LIMITED. ORDINARY 58,917,955 1,103,088,419 5%
ING INGHAMS GROUP ORDINARY 19,554,568 371,679,601 5%
MFG MAGELLAN FIN GRP LTD ORDINARY 9,472,223 182,479,647 5%
PME PRO MEDICUS LIMITED ORDINARY 5,384,407 104,432,253 5%
PNV POLYNOVO LIMITED ORDINARY 33,806,165 661,688,044 5%
CHN CHALICE MINING LTD ORDINARY 18,835,664 376,297,194 5%
PNI PINNACLE INVESTMENT ORDINARY 10,002,091 200,864,056 5%
ADH ADAIRS LIMITED ORDINARY 8,523,387 171,316,433 5%
BOQ BANK OF QUEENSLAND. ORDINARY 32,382,728 652,485,010 5%
PDN PALADIN ENERGY LTD ORDINARY 146,485,323 2,979,870,830 5%
FFX FIREFINCH LTD ORDINARY 56,819,064 1,181,243,221 5%
GUD G.U.D. HOLDINGS ORDINARY 6,686,404 140,894,696 5%
CIA CHAMPION IRON LTD ORDINARY 24,504,815 517,193,126 5%
MTS METCASH LIMITED ORDINARY 45,725,818 965,541,602 5%
CXO CORE LITHIUM ORDINARY 86,917,883 1,838,319,419 5%
WEB WEBJET LIMITED ORDINARY 16,829,591 380,851,484 4%
SHV SELECT HARVESTS ORDINARY 5,301,254 120,950,818 4%
EML EML PAYMENTS LTD ORDINARY 16,390,064 373,984,129 4%
29M 29METALSLIMITED ORDINARY 20,800,460 481,356,099 4%
SFR SANDFIRE RESOURCES ORDINARY 17,681,200 410,181,608 4%
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Betmakers still leads Flight Centre as most shorted stock

After overtaking Flight Centre (ASX:FLT), which has been the most shorted stock on the ASX for most of 2022, Betmakers (ASX:BET) remains in the top position.

After being adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the travel sector and FLT have been recovering as Australia’s borders started to reopen both domestically and internationally.

BET, which operates a platform model providing the back-end technology for bookmakers primarily in horse racing, has seen its short position remain steady heading into December at 15%, while FLT’s has fallen to 14%.

The FLT share price has fallen ~6% in the past month and is down more than 14% year to date. The BET share price is also down 1% in the past month and ~68% year to date.
 

BET & FLT Share price today


 

Resources stocks make the top 50

Emerging lithium producer Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) remains in the top 10 of the ASX most shorted stocks, with its position at 10% which is slightly up on November.

SYA is closing in on a restart of its North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Québec, Canada with the operation on track to recommence production in Q1 2023 with both procurement and permitting activities nearing the finish line and construction activities ramping up.

St Barbara (ASX:SBM) has seen its short position remain steady at 8%. As Stockhead’s Josh Chiat reported recently it hasn’t been a good year for the gold explorer and producer. SBM is down 56% year to date and hovering just a little bit above five-year lows after a catalogue of missteps at its Gwalia, Simberi and Atlantic gold operations.

Among other resources stocks in the top 50 of most shorted stocks heading into December are Core Lithium (ASX:CXO), Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) and 29 Metals (ASX:29M).

 

SYA, SBM, CXO, LKE & 29M share price today:


 

Energy stocks Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) and Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) have seen their short positions remain at 6% and 5% respectively.
 

VUL & PDN share price today:


 

Not all well on health front

A few ASX health stocks continue to not fare well with short-sellers. Infection prevention company  Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) has seen its short position not improve, remaining at 9%.

NAN has been a target of short-sellers throughout 2022 with the company changing its business model in the key US market.

Among other ASX health stocks continuing to be targeted by short-sellers including  Polynovo (ASX:PNV), and Clinuvel  Pharmaceutical (ASX:CUV). 

The PNV short position has improved from 7% last month to 5% while the CUV short position remains at 6%.   PNV has seen its share price increase more than 29% year to date.

The wound care company announced in September that it had received FDA 510(k) clearance for its NovoSorb MTX, a new product innovation for soft tissue regeneration for the management of complex wounds.

It hasn’t been as good news for NAN and CUV, down 26% and 32% respectively year to date.
 

NAN, PNV & CUV share price today:


 

Short-sellers not feeling Christmas spirit for retail stocks

Heading into the festive season and traditionally strongest retail trading period of the year and consumer discretionary stocks are not feeling too much cheer from short-sellers.

Online retailer Kogan (ASX:KGN) has seen its short position only slightly improve from 7% to 6%. The short position of online furniture and homewares store  Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) has improved only marginally from 8% to 7%.

The TPW share price rose more than 14% on Wednesday following a positive trading update at its AGM, which included an improvement in  Q2 FY23 to date sales.

From November 1 to November 27 the company’s revenue is also running slightly ahead of the same period for last year.

Rising inflation and interest rates globally are set to define the consumer Christmas spending test in 2022 and changing trends.

The latest retail trading figures show a 0.2 per cent drop over the month of October; however, it is up 12.5% from the previous October.

The KGN, TPW and JBH share price have all fallen year to date.

KGN, TPW, JBH & CCX share price today:

 

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