Odds are stacked against shorts targeting Well Health Technologies
While the short positioning in Paramount Resources (Mixed; POU) remains off its peak seen in mid-May, short bets against the stock remain highly elevated. The stock has recently pulled back from a rally off its June lows and short sellers seem generally content to hold on to their bets for a stock breakdown.
A notable change in our Top 10 most shorted list this week is the disappearance of Stingray Group (Mixed; RAY) due to an increase in the stock's estimated float. That paved the way for Laurentian Bank (Mixed: LB) which takes the 10th spot. Based on our signals, the shorts may be on to something there. In terms of signals, Cargojet (Mixed; CJT) has flipped back to a bearish setup.
| Top 10 Canadian Stocks Shorted as of July 15, 2019* | ||||||
| Stock | Shares Short | %Float | Change | INK Signal | ||
| 1 | POU | Paramount Resources | 7,077,862 | 25.07% | -1.12% | Squeeze |
| 2 | HLF | High Liner Foods | 3,575,756 | 17.36% | -0.50% | Bearish |
| 3 | GWO | Great West Lifeco | 27,858,423 | 12.78% | -0.23% | Squeeze |
| 4 | CJT | Cargojet | 1,471,122 | 12.12% | 0.56% | Bearish |
| 5 | ACQ | AutoCanada | 3,125,295 | 10.79% | 0.91% | Bearish |
| 6 | SSL | Sandstorm Gold | 19,358,132 | 10.98% | 0.40% | Bearish |
| 7 | BNE | Bonterra Energy | 2,035,029 | 9.83% | 0.58% | Squeeze |
| 8 | NOA | North American Constr. | 2,412,757 | 9.81% | 0.28% | Bearish |
| 9 | CHW | Chesswood Group | 847,616 | 9.47% | 0.02% | Bearish |
| 10 | LB | Laurentian Bank | 3,688,475 | 8.72% | 0.01% | Bearish |
*Stocks trading above $1
Some notable changes in short positions with bearish setups based on our signals include uranium junior Energy Fuels (Cloudy; EFR) which saw shorts jump 2.06% to 3.56% of float. Acasti Pharma (Mixed; ACST) saw its short position jump 1.34% to 2.53% while shorts boosted their positioning in Endeavour Silver (Cloudy; EDR) by 1.01% fo 3.15% of float.
Bullish developments took place in a number of stocks including Burcon Nutrascience (Sunny; BU) as shorts dropped 2.94% to 0.66% of float as the company's recent rights offering moves further down the rear-view mirror. InterRent REIT (Mostly Sunny; IIP) saw short interest fall 1.58% to 0.52% following the closing of a recent financing while high-flying Well Health Technologies (Sunny; WELL) saw short positions jump 2.40% to 2.45% of float as shorts take on a stock the a high amount of insider commitment. On average, when it comes to a battle between the shorts and insiders with skin-in-the-game, we would put our money on the insiders.
This article first appeared on INKResearch.com.
Disclosure: I hold shares of BU.