Short sellers reduced their exposure to Paramount Resources in the first half of June as the stock put in new year-to-date lows. Nevertheless, that still left the stock as one of the most shorted as a percentage of its float in Canada. Jumping to the top of Top 10 table based on IIROC data as of June 15th is tightly controlled Stingray Group which has a relatively small estimated float. As such, we would be reluctant to read too much into the short positioning in that stock.
The other new arrival in the Top 10 is Automotive Property REIT which announced on June 12th a 7 million unit offering priced at $10.45 per unit in conjunction with a dealership property deal.
| Top 10 Canadian Stocks Shorted as of June 15, 2019* | ||||||
| Stock | Shares Short | %Float | Change | INK Signal | ||
| 1 | RAY | Stingray Group | 408,014 | 65.43% | 20.82% | Squeeze |
| 2 | POU | Paramount Resources | 7,272,084 | 25.78% | -2.21% | Squeeze |
| 3 | HLF | High Liner Foods | 3,641,457 | 17.68% | 0.08% | Bearish |
| 4 | GWO | Great West Lifeco | 27,438,705 | 12.58% | -0.17% | Squeeze |
| 5 | CJT | Cargojet | 1,417,402 | 11.68% | 0.59% | Bearish |
| 6 | ACQ | AutoCanada | 2,902,266 | 10.86% | -0.18% | Bearish |
| 7 | SSL | Sandstorm Gold | 18,370,533 | 10.60% | 1.12% | Bearish |
| 8 | APR.UN | Automotive Prop. REIT | 2,121,899 | 9.78% | 1.11% | Bearish |
| 9 | NOA | North American Constr. | 2,358,127 | 9.58% | 0.12% | Bearish |
| 10 | CHW | Chesswood Group | 844,464 | 9.46% | 0.05% | Squeeze |
*Stocks trading over $1.00
Leaving the Top 10 this report are BTB REIT (Mixed; BTB) which closed a financing on June 14th and Bonterra Energy (Mostly Sunny; BNE) which saw shorts modestly reduce their exposure as the stock also set new YTD lows this month.
With shorts paring back positions in some big oil & gas favourites, perhaps it is sign that the worst is in for the Canadian oil patch. We will have more to say on that issue in our Monday market update which is delivered to Canadian Insider Research Club members early Monday morning. If you are not a member, consider joining here.
Two stocks with notable jumps in short positions so far this month are Burcon Nutrascience (Sunny; BU) and MediPharm Labs (Sunny; LABS). However, both had financings in play during the reporting period. Burcon has a rights offering for a maximum of 43,941,536 shares at 35 cents which is set to expire June 25th. Meanwhile, MediPharm closed a bought deal financing of 13.5 million shares at $5.55 on June 17th.
Last report we pointed to a large jump in short positioning at VersaPay (Mostly Sunny ; VPY). However, this week short positions in the stock have been almost entirely covered. Northview Apartment REIT (Mostly Sunny; NVU) was one of the top names to see a reduction in short interest, falling to 2.22% of float from 4.04% in the last report. The REIT completed a bought deal financing around June 4th. According to INK signals, it still has the potential for a short squeeze.
INK signals in this report are based on comparing short-selling interest and insider commitment levels at the firm. The signals are available for stocks with INK Edge rankings in the short report tab on the INK company pages.
This post first appeared on INKResearch.com.
Disclosure: I hold a position in Burcon Nutrascience.