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:
- Boss Energy Ltd (ASX: BOE) remains the most shorted ASX share with short interest of 18.2%. This is down strongly week on week. Some short sellers may have closed positions after the uranium producer delivered a better than expected quarterly update.
- Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) has seen its short interest ease a touch to 15.9%. Short sellers are betting heavily against uranium miners like Paladin Energy.
- IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) has 12.2% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Short sellers believe this student placement and language testing company is going to struggle this year due to student visa changes.
- Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) has short interest of 11.6%, which is down slightly since last week. This is likely to reflect weak lithium prices and concerns over its high debt load and the exit of its founder/CEO due to misconduct.
- Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) has short interest of 11.1%, which is down since last week. This graphite miner had to declare a force majeure at its Balama operation in Africa late last year. Its shares are down over 90% since November 2022.
- Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) has 10.9% of its shares held short, which is down sharply week on week. Short sellers have been closing positions after getting caught up in a short squeeze after the pizza chain operator's shares rallied on good news.
- Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) short interest of 10.4%, which is down week on week. Last week, the lithium miner released a trading update and revealed that it expects to post a loss for the first half of FY 2025.
- Deep Yellow Limited (ASX: DYL) has 10.1% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. This is another uranium stock being targeted by short sellers.
- Adriatic Metals (ASX: ADT) has returned to the top ten with short interest of 9.7%. Short sellers appear concerned that its Vares Silver Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina could be underperforming.
- Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) is back in the top ten with short interest of 9.7%. There are concerns that this network as a service company could fall short of expectations in FY 2025.
