Short & Caught: Who was once short, but now they're long on City Chic?

Flight Centre remains the most shorted ASX stock but its short position… hasn’t worsened
Several BNPL, health, resources and consumer discretionary stocks have also been heavily shorted
Reports Regal Funds Management may have moved from short seller to long-term holder in City Chic Collective

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 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
FLT	FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL ORDINARY	30,103,252	200,092,794	15%
BET	BETMAKERS TECH GROUP ORDINARY	135,094,846	939,337,520	14%
SQ2	BLOCK CDI 1:1 NYSE	4,320,804	37,158,772	12%
MP1	MEGAPORT LIMITED ORDINARY	17,447,635	158,165,115	11%
DMP	DOMINO PIZZA ENTERPR ORDINARY	9,293,265	86,592,390	11%
LKE	LAKE RESOURCES ORDINARY	138,956,501	1,389,973,709	10%
PPT	PERPETUAL LIMITED ORDINARY	5,575,103	57,308,133	10%
NAN	NANOSONICS LIMITED ORDINARY	24,920,192	302,004,220	8%
BRG	BREVILLE GROUP LTD ORDINARY	11,586,348	142,781,365	8%
ZIP	ZIP CO LTD.. ORDINARY	55,391,375	705,679,653	8%
MFG	MAGELLAN FIN GRP LTD ORDINARY	14,299,575	183,482,796	8%
SYA	SAYONA MINING LTD ORDINARY	642,848,436	8,310,503,078	8%
KGN	KOGAN.COM LTD ORDINARY	7,910,332	107,044,098	7%
IEL	IDP EDUCATION LTD ORDINARY	20,101,421	278,336,211	7%
92E	92ENERGY ORDINARY	5,891,891	81,878,696	7%
TPW	TEMPLE & WEBSTER LTD ORDINARY	8,658,906	120,893,504	7%
ING	INGHAMS GROUP ORDINARY	26,607,998	371,679,601	7%
PNV	POLYNOVO LIMITED ORDINARY	47,001,114	661,688,044	7%
VUL	VULCAN ENERGY ORDINARY	9,892,637	143,335,301	7%
BRN	BRAINCHIP LTD ORDINARY	113,948,921	1,719,362,144	7%
APX	APPEN LIMITED ORDINARY	8,172,506	123,446,356	7%
NXT	NEXTDC LIMITED ORDINARY	29,797,350	456,699,580	7%
WEB	WEBJET LIMITED ORDINARY	24,588,109	380,851,484	6%
BGL	BELLEVUE GOLD LTD ORDINARY	66,124,561	1,047,527,354	6%
PBH	POINTSBET HOLDINGS ORDINARY	19,087,087	305,679,271	6%
CCX	CITY CHIC COLLECTIVE ORDINARY	14,409,685	231,920,086	6%
AWC	ALUMINA LIMITED ORDINARY	179,423,173	2,901,681,417	6%
CUV	CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS ORDINARY	3,054,689	49,410,338	6%
BOQ	BANK OF QUEENSLAND. ORDINARY	38,630,471	647,357,479	6%
ASM	AUSSTRAT MATERIALS ORDINARY	8,528,164	142,956,062	6%
DEG	DE GREY MINING ORDINARY	90,612,913	1,540,795,915	6%
JBH	JB HI-FI LIMITED ORDINARY	6,104,564	109,333,981	6%
RRL	REGIS RESOURCES ORDINARY	41,919,682	755,025,925	6%
GOR	GOLD ROAD RES LTD ORDINARY	58,430,964	1,075,932,298	5%
ADH	ADAIRS LIMITED ORDINARY	9,197,480	171,316,433	5%
EVN	EVOLUTION MINING LTD ORDINARY	98,340,030	1,834,914,135	5%
NVX	NOVONIX LIMITED ORDINARY	25,700,689	486,679,904	5%
PDN	PALADIN ENERGY LTD ORDINARY	157,123,184	2,978,079,002	5%
PNI	PINNACLE INVESTMENT ORDINARY	10,540,689	200,863,178	5%
TYR	TYRO PAYMENTS ORDINARY	26,845,274	517,930,801	5%
CHN	CHALICE MINING LTD ORDINARY	18,683,521	376,297,194	5%
29M	29METALS LIMITED ORDINARY	23,889,145	481,329,528	5%
FFX	FIREFINCH LTD ORDINARY	58,619,064	1,181,243,221	5%
PME	PRO MEDICUS LIMITED ORDINARY	5,111,618	104,432,253	5%
BLD	BORAL LIMITED. ORDINARY	52,905,905	1,103,088,419	5%
MTS	METCASH LIMITED ORDINARY	45,478,712	965,541,602	5%
GUD	G.U.D. HOLDINGS ORDINARY	6,558,505	140,894,696	5%
UMG	UNITED MALT GROUP ORDINARY	13,923,153	299,179,135	5%
JHG	JANUS HENDERSON CDI 1:1	740,048	15,920,196	5%
RWC	RELIANCE WORLDWIDE ORDINARY	36,219,280	790,094,765	5%

Flight Centre continues to face headwinds

Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) continues to lead as the most ASX shorted stock with its position the same at 15% since September.

It’s been a tough gig for ASX travel stocks since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than two years ago. Now with rising inflation, interest rate hikes pushing up living costs, a likely pullback on discretionary spending combined with rising energy prices pushing up air travel prices, you might say the sector faces more turbulence.

Qantas (ASX:QAN) saw its share price surge 12% last Thursday on a bullish quarterly update that forecast H1 FY23 underlying profit before tax of between $1.2-$1.3 billion and back to around pre-Covid-19 service levels in the first half of October.

However, analysts are still saying approach the sector with caution. We may find out what the year ahead may have in store for FLT at its AGM, scheduled for November 14. The FLT share price is down ~18% year to date.

Another travel stock remaining on the short seller list is Webjet (ASX:WEB) but it has seen its position relatively unchanged.

Short sellers reverse views on City Chic

Plus-sized clothing and lingerie chain City Chic Collective (ASX:CCX) has seen its short selling position improve in October, down from more than 9% in September to 6%.

The Australian reported that Regal Funds Management appears to have moved from a short seller in City Chic to a long-term holder, saying a noticed lodged to the ASX shows Regal bought 18.5 million shares recently and retains ~13.2 million, equating to a 5.51% stake in the company (a substantial holding).

Like the Oz reported, the difference in shares purchased to current holdings seems like Regal may have been covering a short position. We recently got into the ins and outs of short selling if you want to know more.

(Update 1500hrs, 21 October – Since this article was published, City Chic put out an announcement saying Regal Funds Management and its associates have ceased to be a substantial shareholder. We’ll look into this and report back in our Trading Places column next week.)

The CCX share price is down more than 78% year to date.

Consumer discretionary stocks on list amid economic volatility

Perhaps no surprise as interest rates continue to rise on surging inflation, consumer discretionary stocks are also on the list of short sellers including Kogan (ASX:KGN), Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) and JB HiFi (ASX:JBH).

JBH is due to hold its AGM on October 27. Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer was a great beneficiary of the Covid-19 lockdowns with more people working and staying at home.

However, with rising inflation, interest rates and costs of living pressures JBH is facing headwinds as consumers are forecast to tighten their spending.

BNPL and health stocks on list

While the short position of BNPL play Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) improved in September it is back up in October. However, short sellers have decreased the position in Zip Co (ASX:ZIP) from ~10% last month.

Nanosonics (ASX:NAN), Polynovo (ASX:PNV), Promedicus (ASX: PMD)and Clinuvel Pharmaceutical (ASX:CUV) are among health names heavily shorted.

Gold and lithium stocks among most ASX shorted stocks

On the resources side short sellers are also looking at lithium and and gold stocks. Gold miner De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) has seen its short position improve from more than 9% in September.

Other gold stocks shorted included Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL), Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR) and Regis Resources (ASX:RRL).

As Stockhead’s Reuben Adams reported yesterday, Evolution Mining reckons it’s on track to hit production and cost guidance in FY23 but the boffins at RBC don’t agree.

Lithium stocks Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) and Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) are also among the ASX’s most heavily shorted stocks.

Short sellers not feeling racing vibe

And while we enter the Spring Racing Carnival in Australia and are just weeks away from the Melbourne Cup, short sellers still aren’t feeling the vibe.

Wagering tech company Betmakers Technology Group (ASX:BET) is continuing to see its short position increase, up slightly from 13% in September.

It was slightly better news for online sports betting company Pointsbet (ASX:PBH) which has seen its short position fall from more than 7% in September.

Pointsbet (ASX:PBH) last week announced a partnership with 1/ST Technology, a business division of The Stronach Group, North America’s dominant thoroughbred horse racing company.

While you would think the partnership was a positive for PBH, as Stockhead’s Gregor Stronach noted, weirdly its share price fell 5.7% on the morning of the announcement. The PBH share price is down ~67% year to date.

Disclosure: The journalist held shares in Regis Resources at the time of writing this article.