Short & Caught: The ASX stocks investors are shorting right now

Short & Caught is Stockhead’s fortnightly recap of which ASX small cap stocks are heavily shorted. Stocks that are shorted have investors betting that they fall.

Shorting works by selling stocks you do not actually own in the hope of buying them back at a lower price.

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

Stockhead’s two preferred metrics are raw short interest as well as percentage changes in them within the last month.

The most shorted

For the past several weeks Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY). and Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) have been neck and neck as the most shorted stocks.

In recent days Galaxy’s short interest has risen to 80 million shares. Shares in the lithium miner has already been on several rollercoaster rides so far in 2020, but overall since Christmas it’s up 16 per cent.

While the company made a hefty after tax loss in 2019, it says it still achieved strong production volume and quality results at its Mt Cattlin project.

The company admitted some potential deals in China were uncertain but would not provide sales forecasts until clarity returned to the market.

Companies making substantial rises up the list included uranium play Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN), gold explorer Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) and cannabis purveyor Cann Global (ASX:CGB).

Yesterday Bellevue announced a 23 per cent boost to its gold resources, which now sit at 2.2 million ounces.

The newly shorted

Whatever goes up must come down right? Zoono (ASX:ZNO) and Holista CollTech (ASX:HCT), two stocks involved in bug killing that have seen substantial returns since the coronavirus broke out, both cropped up on the list this week.

Both stocks are keen to play a part but have been struggling to keep up with demand for their products

Another new target of shorters is regional airline Regional Express (ASX:REX), which is seeing increased competition from Qantas.

While it has not commented publicly on the coronavirus, many other airlines have been impacted by the outbreak and the fears of it.

Others stocks have become targets following the release of half-yearly results, including antiques seller Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW), Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN) and Bell Financial (ASX:BFG).