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:
- Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) continues to be the most shorted ASX shares with short interest of 20.6%, which is up slightly week on week. Short sellers don't appear to believe that lithium prices will rebound any time soon.
- IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) has 14.1% of its shares held short, which is up week on week yet again. Short sellers seem to believe that regulatory changes to student visas will weigh heavily on this language testing and student placement company's performance.
- Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) has short interest of 13.7%, which is up week on week. Weak graphite prices have been weighing heavily on Syrah's performance.
- Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) has seen its short interest remain flat at 10.1%. Short sellers continue to target this lithium developer despite it recently announcing debt funding for the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project.
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has seen its short interest rise to 9.9%. Short sellers seem to believe that Flight Centre will fall short of expectations in FY 2024 and FY 2025.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 8.5%, which is up week on week. Short sellers continue to target this lithium miner's shares despite them crashing 82% over the last 12 months.
- Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD) has seen its short interest ease again to 7.7%. Unfortunately for short sellers, this gold miner's shares are up over 50% since this time last year thanks to a soaring gold price.
- Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT) has returned to the top ten with 7.2% of its shares held short. This is likely to be due to valuation concerns and the semiconductor company's abject revenue generation.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has short interest of 7.2%, which is down sharply week on week. This lithium miner's shares are down 80% over the last 12 months. Short sellers don't appear to believe the declines are over.
- Australian Clinical Labs Ltd (ASX: ACL) has short interest of 7.1%, which is down week on week again. This pathology company has been struggling due to tough trading conditions.
