Once a week, I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which ASX shares are being targeted by short sellers.

That’s because I believe it is 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, listed below are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC.

The top 10 most shorted ASX shares

• Lotus Resources Ltd (ASX: LOT) remains at the top of the table despite its short interest falling sharply to 14.8%. Short sellers may still have concerns over the uranium producer’s ability to ramp up production and generate attractive returns from Kayelekera.
• DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) has seen its short interest fall materially to 14.3%. The counter-drone technology company remains heavily shorted, possibly due to its valuation and the uncertainty created by the ASIC investigation.
• Boss Energy Ltd (ASX: BOE) has jumped back into the top ten with short interest of 12.8%. Short sellers may be questioning the uranium producer’s longer-term production outlook and whether Honeymoon can deliver the growth expected by the market.
• IperionX Ltd (ASX: IPX) has seen its short interest rise to 12.4%. The titanium company continues to make progress with its US operations, but short sellers may believe its valuation already assumes a significant amount of future growth.
• 4DMedical Ltd (ASX: 4DX) has short interest of 12%, which is down slightly week on week. This may be due to the medical technology company’s valuation, which could be difficult to justify based on its current revenue base.
• PLS Group Ltd (ASX: PLS) has seen its short interest rise to 11.7%. Short sellers may be positioning for continued weakness in lithium prices, which would put pressure on margins and cash flow.
• Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) has short interest of 11.7%, which is down slightly since last week. Short sellers may still want to see stronger evidence that its restructuring can restore earnings growth.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) has returned to the top ten with short interest of 11%. This could reflect concerns that higher interest rates will impact the buy now pay later company’s performance.
• Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) has seen its short interest fall to 10.7%. Short sellers may remain concerned about luxury wine demand and how quickly the Penfolds owner can improve its performance in the Americas.
• Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) has short interest of 10.6%, down from 11% last week. Despite positive regulatory progress, short sellers aren’t giving up on this one.

The post These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Domino’s Pizza Enterprises and Treasury Wine Estates. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, DroneShield, Telix Pharmaceuticals, and Treasury Wine Estates. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Treasury Wine Estates. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Domino’s Pizza Enterprises and Telix Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished the week with a decline. The benchmark index fell 0.45% to 8,665 points.

Will the market be able to bounce back from this on Monday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 expected to edge higher

The Australian share market looks set for a mildly positive start to the week following a strong session on Wall Street on Friday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day 3 points higher. In the United States, the Dow Jones was up 0.95%, the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq pushed 0.5% higher.

Oil prices fall

ASX 200 energy shares Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) could have a subdued start to the week after oil prices pulled back on Friday night. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price was down 2.3% to US$92.41 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price was down 2.15% to US$104.32 a barrel. This was driven by optimism over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Codan shares upgraded

Codan Ltd (ASX: CDA) shares are in the buy zone according to Bell Potter. This morning, the broker has upgraded the metal detector manufacturer’s shares to a buy rating with an improved price target of $60.00. It said: “We upgrade to Buy from Hold. Notwithstanding potential supply chain constraints in global electronics which CDA is “monitoring”, we expect current rapidly expanding production rates of Group 2 UAS to drive Communications revenue upgrades in 1H27/FY27.”

Gold price rises

It could be a positive start to the week for ASX 200 gold shares including Capricorn Metals Ltd (ASX: CMM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) after the gold price rose on Friday night. According to CNBC, the gold futures price was up 0.55% to US$4,321.2 an ounce. Easing oil prices lowered inflation risks and gave the precious metal a boost.

Buy Mesoblast shares

Bell Potter thinks investors should be buying Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) shares. This morning, the broker has retained its buy rating and $4.45 price target on the biotech company’s shares. This is more than double its current share price. It said: “MSB has extensive IP around both Ryoncil and Rexlemestrocel-L (aka Revascor). Ryoncil carries Orphan Drug Designation and long life patents. The development of the new TIBA assay further extends the moat around future revenues.”

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Woodside Energy Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA) share price has fallen by approximately 35% in the past year. Not many S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares have fallen that far over the same time period.

I get excited when high-quality businesses fall that far because it could be a rare opportunity to buy part of a great business.

REA Group describes itself as a multinational digital advertising business, specialising in property. It operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites – realestate.com.au and realcomercial.com.au, as well as the leading website dedicated to share property, Flatmates.com and the property research website property.com.au.

The company also owns Mortgage Choice, an Australian mortgage broking franchise group, PropTrack, a leading provider of property data services, Campaign Agent, Australia’s leading provider of vendor-paid advertising finance solutions to the Australian real estate market and Realtair, a digital platform providing technology for the real estate transaction process. It also has investments in Simplicity Loans and Advisory, Arealytics, Athena Home Loans and Planitar.

As you can see, REA Group has a strong presence across the real estate sector.

Has recent financial performance been compelling?

The company delivered a solid set of numbers during the FY26 result.

Australian revenue grew 11% to $1.7 billion, Australian operating profit (EBITDA) before associates rose 13% to $1.1 billion, net profit after tax (NPAT) rose 15% to $650 million and earnings per share (EPS) climbed 15% to $4.93.

The company noted a number of highlights for realestate.com.au, with 12.7 million people visiting the portal on average each month. It also said it receives 146.4 million average monthly visits, which is 104.5 million more monthly visits than the nearest competitor on average.

It also noted 2.9 million people visited realcommercial.com.au per month on average, 1.8 million more people than the nearest competitor.

FY27 could be a challenging year for the company amid all of the changes to property-related taxes.

It said that new national buy listings are anticipated to be “flat to down low single-digits” in FY27. July listings were 2% lower and in line with the eight-year average. However, combined Melbourne and Sydney listings declined by 13%, while Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide increased by 13%.

Despite that headwind, the company continues to target operational margin expansion, which I’d say is a positive development.

Management expects a low double-digit controllable residential buy yield, excluding the impact of the geographical mix, driven by an 80% premium price increase and growth in add-ons.

So, whilst the number of listings is challenging, price rises are helping offset the headwinds.

According to Commsec’s projection, the business is now valued at just 25x FY27’s estimated earnings. Commsec forecasts suggest the company could grow its EPS by 13.75% in FY28 and another 15.7% in FY29.

Is the REA Group share price a buy?

According to CMC Invest, there have been 10 analyst ratings on the business within the last three months. Four of those ratings were a buy, five were a hold and one was a sell.

The average price target of those analyst ratings was $188.50, which implies a possible rise of 27% over the next year from where it is at the time of writing. In other words, it could be an underrated opportunity, so it could be one to take a closer look at.

The post Is the REA Group share price a strong contrarian buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.