Short & Caught: Punters bet against wagering stocks, Flight Centre
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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 | 35,443,612 | 199,345,399 | 17.8% |
BET | BETMAKERS TECH GROUP ORDINARY | 115,005,318 | 904,129,858 | 12.7% |
NAN | NANOSONICS LIMITED ORDINARY | 35,915,590 | 302,319,781 | 11.9% |
WEB | WEBJET LIMITED ORDINARY | 39,481,038 | 380,356,821 | 10.4% |
MSB | MESOBLAST LIMITED ORDINARY | 59,874,011 | 650,804,467 | 9.2% |
KGN | KOGAN.COM LTD ORDINARY | 9,744,423 | 107,199,373 | 9.1% |
RBL | REDBUBBLE LIMITED ORDINARY | 25,040,762 | 276,083,374 | 9.1% |
PNV | POLYNOVO LIMITED ORDINARY | 58,612,359 | 662,286,542 | 8.9% |
APX | APPEN LIMITED ORDINARY | 10,469,569 | 123,607,662 | 8.5% |
Z1P | ZIP CO LTD. ORDINARY | 56,385,014 | 666,489,527 | 8.5% |
EML | EML PAYMENTS LTD ORDINARY | 31,560,324 | 373,937,488 | 8.4% |
OBL | OMNI BRIDGEWAY LTD ORD US PROHIBITED | 22,039,923 | 269,436,711 | 8.2% |
TYR | TYRO PAYMENTS ORDINARY | 40,132,116 | 516,500,849 | 7.8% |
AMA | AMA GROUP LIMITED ORDINARY | 73,511,409 | 1,011,161,059 | 7.3% |
PDN | PALADIN ENERGY LTD ORDINARY | 191,775,749 | 2,685,934,860 | 7.1% |
TPW | TEMPLE & WEBSTER LTD ORDINARY | 8,602,410 | 120,481,933 | 7.1% |
PBH | POINTSBET HOLDINGS ORDINARY | 18,200,498 | 264,927,191 | 6.9% |
EOS | ELECTRO OPTIC SYS. ORDINARY | 9,691,892 | 151,199,563 | 6.4% |
RRL | REGIS RESOURCES ORDINARY | 47,208,996 | 756,554,423 | 6.2% |
ING | INGHAMS GROUP ORDINARY | 22,894,655 | 370,463,673 | 6.2% |
Travel agent Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) – which was hit hard from the Covid-19 pandemic but has been recovering in the past months as Australia’s borders started to re-open both domestically and internationally – is the most shorted stock at the moment.
There’s been a 17.8% increase in short interest in Flight Centre, despite its share price increasing ~5.95% in the past six months to be trading at $19.04.
The company this week announced it was increasing its stake in Dubai-based travel tech business TP Connect (TPC) from 22.5% to 70%.
Sport betting stock Betmakers (ASX:BET) was the next most shorted stock with a 12.7% short increase.
There’s been media speculation former bookmaker turned gambling industry investor Tom Waterhouse has lent stock that could be being used to short BetMakers, which operates a platform model providing the back-end technology for bookmakers (primarily in horse racing).
According to the reports, Waterhouse has become a major shareholder in BetMakers in the past year, receiving performance rights that have vested into share options that he has then converted to equity as a result of a commercial deal.
The Betmakers share price has tumbled 37% to 65 cents in the past year. It recently reported a 473% increase in revenue on the previous corresponding period of $43.5 million for H1 FY22.
Investors in Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) may be troubled to hear the company also made it onto the short list with a ~12% increase in shorts. Nanosonics shares have fallen a massive ~39% in the past year to $3.96.
The company has developed and commercialised the trophon EPR device, an automated disinfection technology, which claims to be the first major innovation in disinfection for ultrasound probes in more than 20 years.
The company recently revealed big changes to its North American sales model with GE Healthcare and also reported a half-year profit slump.
Discretionary stocks which have been hit hard of late are also back on the short list including Kogan.com (ASX:KGN), Redbubble (ASX:RBL) and Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW).
Mining companies and energy stocks still have short positions outstanding despite the run-up in commodity prices, including Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) and Regis Resources (ASX:RRL).
The bears are also out for fintech payment companies including EML Payments (ASX:EML), Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) and Tyro Payments (ASX:TYR).