As we head into summer there is very little change to our Top 10 most shorted stocks list. Bonterra Energy (Mostly Sunny; BNE) returns to our Top 10 list after having slipped off it in the mid-June edition. It takes the place of Automotive Properties REIT (Cloudy; APR.UN) which saw its short position drop after it completed an $84 million equity financing deal on June 28th.
Meanwhile, our signals for Cargojet (MIxed; CJT) suggest it has the potential for a short-squeeze situation whereas in our last report the reading was bearish. Heading in the other direction is Chesswood Group (Mixed; CHW) which suggested a short-squeeze situation last time, but now reads as bearish.
| Top 10 Canadian Stocks Shorted as of June 30, 2019* | ||||||
| Stock | Shares Short | %Float | Change | INK Signal | ||
| 1 | RAY | Stingray Group | 504,969 | 80.97% | 15.55% | Squeeze |
| 2 | POU | Paramount Resources | 7,394,869 | 26.19% | 0.44% | Squeeze |
| 3 | HLF | High Liner Foods | 3,679,320 | 17.86% | 0.18% | Bearish |
| 4 | GWO | Great West Lifeco | 28,351,521 | 13.00% | 0.42% | Squeeze |
| 5 | CJT | Cargojet | 1,402,991 | 11.56% | -0.12% | Squeeze |
| 6 | ACQ | AutoCanada | 2,882,094 | 10.79% | -0.08% | Bearish |
| 7 | SSL | Sandstorm Gold | 18,649,667 | 10.60% | 0.16% | Bearish |
| 8 | NOA | North American Constr. | 2,344,824 | 9.52% | -0.05% | Bearish |
| 9 | CHW | Chesswood Group | 845,716 | 9.45% | 0.01% | Bearish |
| 10 | BNE | Bonterra Energy | 1,914,262 | 9.24% | 0.04% | Squeeze |
*Stocks trading above $1
Shorts continue to see the oil patch as a prime target. Natural gas producer Peyto Exploration & Development (Mixed; PEY) saw a 1% jump in short interest bringing it to 7.39% of the stock's float. The stock has a bearish setup based on INK short signals. A stock outside of the oil the patch that also has a bearish setup is cannabis operator Harvest Health & Recreation (Mixed; HARV) which saw a 0.92% bump up in short interest bringing it to 3.38% of float. Cannabis stock HEXO (Rainy; HEXO) also has a bearish setup based on our signals, despite short interest dropping by 0.96% to 3.06% of float.
In contrast, MediPharm Labs (Sunny; LABS) saw a 6.55% drop in short interest following the completion of a $75 million bought deal financing on June 17th. Its short interest is now 930,377 shares or 0.83% of the float, positioning which our signals suggest is vulnerable to a squeeze.
Finally, a reduction in short interest at asset manager AGF Management (Mostly Sunny; AGF.B) caught our eye. Shorts dropped back by 0.55% to 2.55% of float. Despite pulling back, based on our signals, shorts are still vulnerable to being squeezed. The bullish setup inspired us to write about AGF in our July 9th morning report.
This article first appeared on INKResearch.com.