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At the start of each week, I like to look at ASIC's short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.
This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn't quite right with a company.
With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) continues as the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest sliding week on week again to 13.5%. There are concerns that airlines are offering slender revenue margins to travel agents at present due to a lack of competition.
- Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) has seen its short interest remain flat at 12.9%. Concerns over its cash burn and competitive pressures are weighing on this betting technology company's shares.
- Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) has 12.5% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Investors appear concerned about the prospects of the fund management industry in 2023. Pendal was also highly shorted prior to being acquired by Perpetual last week.
- Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has seen its short interest ease to 10.5%. This network as a service operator's lack of cash flow generation has caused a few alarm bells to ring in recent months.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 9.9% of its shares held short, which is down week on week again. Short sellers may be targeting Sayona due to concerns that lithium prices have peaked.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 9.3%, which is up again since last week. This appears to have been underpinned by valuation concerns, production delays, and falling lithium prices.
- Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) is another highly shorted lithium share with short interest of 7.6%, which is up week on week. J Capital is targeting the company due to concerns over its technology and funding.
- Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG) has seen its short interest remain flat at 7.3%. Short sellers may believe that the appliance manufacturer's sales could soften due to housing market weakness and the cost of living crisis.
- NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT) has short interest of 7.2%, which is up slightly week on week. This may be due to the sky high multiples the data centre operator's shares trade on.
- Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) has short interest of 6.6%, which is down slightly since last week. Intense competition in the betting industry and its ongoing cash burn may be why short sellers are targeting it.
