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In Short & Caught, Stockhead recaps the ASX stocks that are the most shorted and have had the greatest increase in short interest right now.
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 shorted ASX stocks all have 5.5 per cent or more.
| Code | Company | Short positions | Shares on issue | % short positions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLT | FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL ORDINARY | 32,181,776 | 199,788,196 | 16.11% |
| NAN | NANOSONICS LIMITED ORDINARY | 37,263,599 | 301,835,129 | 12.35% |
| BET | BETMAKERS TECH GROUP ORDINARY | 106,858,562 | 904,456,199 | 11.81% |
| SQ2 | BLOCK CDI 1:1 NYSE | 4,279,052 | 41,317,880 | 10.36% |
| PNV | POLYNOVO LIMITED ORDINARY | 58,311,563 | 661,688,044 | 8.81% |
| EML | EML PAYMENTS LTD ORDINARY | 32,379,803 | 373,461,323 | 8.67% |
| KGN | KOGAN.COM LTD ORDINARY | 9,088,479 | 106,927,603 | 8.50% |
| RRL | REGIS RESOURCES ORDINARY | 63,494,155 | 754,839,713 | 8.41% |
| LKE | LAKE RESOURCES ORDINARY | 114,287,776 | 1,389,709,906 | 8.22% |
| WEB | WEBJET LIMITED ORDINARY | 30,623,071 | 380,509,819 | 8.05% |
| MSB | MESOBLAST LIMITED ORDINARY | 50,565,153 | 650,454,551 | 7.77% |
| CXO | CORE LITHIUM ORDINARY | 132,496,319 | 1,732,611,716 | 7.65% |
| ZIP | ZIP CO LTD.. ORDINARY | 50,514,661 | 687,936,061 | 7.34% |
| ING | INGHAMS GROUP ORDINARY | 26,629,303 | 371,679,601 | 7.16% |
| OBL | OMNI BRIDGEWAY LTD ORD US PROHIBITED | 19,186,450 | 268,639,670 | 7.14% |
| PDN | PALADIN ENERGY LTD ORDINARY | 207,660,470 | 2,977,779,002 | 6.97% |
| CCX | CITY CHIC COLLECTIVE ORDINARY | 15,726,796 | 231,920,086 | 6.78% |
| IEL | IDP EDUCATION LTD ORDINARY | 18,740,296 | 278,336,211 | 6.73% |
| CUV | CLINUVEL PHARMACEUT. ORDINARY | 3,268,326 | 49,410,338 | 6.61% |
| AMA | AMA GROUP LIMITED ORDINARY | 65,166,044 | 1,022,435,377 | 6.37% |
| BGL | BELLEVUE GOLD LTD ORDINARY | 65,490,421 | 1,031,431,826 | 6.35% |
| NEA | NEARMAP LTD ORDINARY | 31,078,684 | 499,070,294 | 6.23% |
| PBH | POINTSBET HOLDINGS ORDINARY | 18,821,248 | 303,618,212 | 6.20% |
| VUL | VULCAN ENERGY ORDINARY | 8,770,600 | 143,094,049 | 6.13% |
| ADH | ADAIRS LIMITED ORDINARY | 10,432,858 | 171,316,433 | 6.09% |
| SBM | ST BARBARA LIMITED ORDINARY | 49,092,695 | 815,734,768 | 6.02% |
| TPW | TEMPLE & WEBSTER LTD ORDINARY | 7,251,267 | 120,514,583 | 6.02% |
| NHC | NEW HOPE CORPORATION ORDINARY | 49,879,670 | 832,357,082 | 5.99% |
| MP1 | MEGAPORT LIMITED ORDINARY | 9,379,044 | 157,949,016 | 5.94% |
| APX | APPEN LIMITED ORDINARY | 7,252,505 | 123,446,356 | 5.88% |
| IMU | IMUGENE LIMITED ORDINARY | 333,583,845 | 5,865,699,945 | 5.69% |
| PNI | PINNACLE INVESTMENT ORDINARY | 11,194,847 | 199,560,297 | 5.61% |
| BOQ | BANK OF QUEENSLAND. ORDINARY | 35,215,276 | 647,357,479 | 5.44% |
| MFG | MAGELLAN FIN GRP LTD ORDINARY | 9,914,113 | 185,158,872 | 5.35% |
| FFX | FIREFINCH LTD ORDINARY | 62,619,084 | 1,181,243,221 | 5.30% |
| PME | PRO MEDICUS LIMITED ORDINARY | 5,431,221 | 104,320,631 | 5.21% |
| SYR | SYRAH RESOURCES ORDINARY | 34,599,263 | 669,442,809 | 5.17% |
| ANN | ANSELL LIMITED ORDINARY | 6,504,880 | 127,441,469 | 5.10% |
| DEG | DE GREY MINING ORDINARY | 71,017,278 | 1,408,843,525 | 5.04% |
| JBH | JB HI-FI LIMITED ORDINARY | 5,485,715 | 109,333,981 | 5.02% |
It’s a new fiscal year but not much is changing for Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) which continues to hit turbulence with short sellers, remaining the most shorted stock on the ASX and has been in this column for most of FY22.
The company has more than 16% or ~32 million of its outstanding ~199.8 million shares on issue held short. It’s been a turbulent ride for FLT throughout FY22, along with the wider travel industry, which is still in recovery mode from global Covid-19 lockdowns.
Investors in FLT had a rollercoaster ride throughout FY22 with its share price at $17.36 on June 30, far from its peak of $24.43 on October 5, 2021. Prior gains have helped FLT retain an ~11% increase during FY22.
Travel booking platform Webjet (ASX:WEB), also has a short position of 10%, with the company’s share price feeling the pain of June sell-offs, falling more than 10% in the past month to $5.51.
June was a particularly tough month on the ASX, which had been unsteady on its feet throughout 2022 and really took a tumble, officially entering correction territory, defined as a fall of 10% or more from its last peak, which was 7632.80 in August 2021.
Tax-loss selling combined with jittery investors concerned about rising inflation, rate hike pressures, supply shortages and the ongoing war in Ukraine saw heavy sell-offs throughout the month.
As a result it seems growth and rate-sensitive stocks continue to be targeted by short sellers including fintech, payments and sports betting companies. BetMakers Technology Group (ASX:BET) is the second most shorted stock on the ASX. BetMakers operates a platform model providing the back-end technology for bookmakers primarily in horse racing.
The company has more than 13% of its stock or ~121 million of its outstanding ~903 million shares shorted. BetMakers’ share price has fallen more than 50% in the past year to 41 cents.
Online betting company Pointsbet (ASX:PBH) has also been targeted by short sellers with a short position of just over 8%.
Other fintech and payments companies sensitive to rate hikes and targeted by short sellers include Appen (ASX:APX), EML Payments (ASX:EML), Block (ASX:SQ2), ZipCo (ASX:ZIP), and Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR).
While they have seen a bit of a July rally ASX growth health stocks continue to feel heat from short sellers not feeling confident about their prospects in a higher interest rate environment.
Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) was the third most shorted stock while Polynovo (ASX:PNV), Clinuvel (ASX:CUV),Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) and Ansell (ASX:ANN) have all made the short seller list for July.
Other stocks which have been targeted by short sellers include ecommerce and consumer discretionary stocks including Kogan (ASX:KGN), RedBubble (ASX:RBL), Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW), City Chic Collective (ASX:CCX) and Adairs (ASX:ADH).
Energy and resources stocks are also on the list of short sellers including renewable focused Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL), lithium developer Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN), gold miner Regis Resources (ASX:RRL), nickel, copper, cobalt and gold explorer and developer Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) and coal miner New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC).
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