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The Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price is edging higher today following the announcement of a new CEO. Shares in the health insurance giant are currently 0.52% higher, trading at $2.90.

New CEO

This morning, Medibank announced that David Koczkar has been appointed as the new company chief executive officer (CEO). However, investors will have to wait till 17 May to see their new man in action. The news comes as Craig Drummond, CEO for the last five years, is stepping down from his role.

While new to the role, Mr Koczkar is not new to the company and has been serving Medibank as chief customer officer.

Medibank said he had been “instrumental in the growth of the company” while overseeing some of the largest changes in the private health insurance sector in Australia. Accomplishments in his previous role include improved customer growth and retention, and product improvements.

Prior to joining Medibank, Mr Koczkar was the group chief commercial officer at Jetstar. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the finance and consulting industry.

Management comments

Regarding both his imminent role and the previous CEO, Mr Koczkar said:

For the last seven years, I have had the privilege of working to improve our relationship with our customers, their experience and enhancing the value that we provide them. I am thrilled to be able to continue this work.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Craig Drummond for his leadership of our company over the last five years. He leaves our company in a stronger position, and we all remain committed to realising the ambition outlined for our customers, our owners and our people.

Terms of the new role

So how much does the new Medibank CEO stand to earn? The release said Mr Koczkar would be paid a fixed sum of $1.5 million a year. This will be reviewed annually and the remuneration includes cash, salary benefits and super contributions.

Moreover, he will also receive short and long term incentives. Of up to 150% of his annual total fixed remuneration based on performance.

On the news, the Medibank share price is trading slightly higher, up 0.52%.

More reading

• 4 reliable ASX dividend shares to buy for income
• 8 ASX 200 shares rated as ‘outperform’ by brokers

Motley Fool contributor Daniel Ewing 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN) share price is higher today. That’s because the company announced it had acquired four more properties at one of its mining locations.

At the time of writing, shares in the miner were selling for $6.54, up 2.03%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is 0.33% higher.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s announcement and how it might affect the Chalice share price.

Why the Chalice share price is up

In a statement to the ASX, Chalice Mining announced it was expanding the size of its 100%-owned Julimar Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Western Australia with the purchase of four private properties in the area.

Totalling roughly 723 hectares in size, the properties cost the company $11.25 million in cash and just over 1 million fully paid ordinary shares. Chalice said the deal was not subject to “any material conditions precedent”.

Investors are responding positively to the news, judging by today’s Chalice share price rise.

The company has now acquired just over 1,600 hectares of private land at the southern end of its Julimar Project.

Julimar Mining Project

The Chalice share price shot up in November 2020, when the company announced “significant new results” out of the Julimar Project. Nickel, copper, and platinum group elements (PGE) were all discovered at the location.

The company is hoping today’s acquisitions should lead to even greater mineralisation discoveries.

According to the website Trading Economics, nickel is currently trading for US$16,318.75 a tonne, copper is US$4.18 a pound, while platinum is selling for US$1,203 per troy ounce. Respectively, these elements are down 1.42%, up 18.78%, and up 12.86% since the beginning of this year.

Both copper and platinum are tipped to rise going forward, as demand for green technology increases.

Chalice share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Chalice share price has increased a whopping 431.7%. In fact, just in 2021, the company’s value has appreciated 52.1%. Today’s price is only slightly down from its recently achieved 52-week high of $6.66.

Chalice Mining has a market capitalisation of $2.2 billion.

More reading

• Why the Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) share price has grown 51% in a month

Motley Fool contributor Marc Sidarous 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Los Cerros Ltd (ASX: LCL) shares are flying high today after encouraging news from the company’s Quinchia Project. At the time of writing, the Los Cerros share price is trading 7.5% higher at 22 cents.

In an announcement prior to market open this morning, the company advised drill results have found high-grade gold deposits at its Tesorito South key target are significantly more abundant and widespread than previously estimated.

Tesorito South is part of the Qunichia Project’s Terorito Prospect. It is located in Columbia and 100% owned by Los Cerros. 

Let’s look closer at the gold miner’s news.

Los Cerros share price strikes gold

Today, the Los Cerros share price is responding well to the news that drill testing on the estimated edges of the company’s project has expanded its mineralised zone.

The three drill holes involved found greater amounts of high-grade gold than was expected.

As a result, the company will begin another series of step-out holes to define the boundaries of Tesorito South’s near-surface mineralisation. Step out holes allow mining companies to assess the endpoint of a mineralised zone.

The results have meant Los Cerros has remodelled the Tesorito Project’s gold envelope to be significantly larger than it was previously thought to be.

Drill hole results

The most southern of the three drill holes (TS-DH17) found gold in the first 232 metres, as was expected. It intercepted the zone of high-grade gold at 72 metres deep.

By finding larger amounts of high-grade gold shallower than expected, the result has expanded the project’s envelope of gold mineralisation over 1 gram per tonne further south.

Assay results from the most southerly hole included:

• 35 metres at 1.15g/t Au from surface including 52.3m at 2.10g/t Au from 72 metres.

The other two drill holes were placed on the northern boundary of the assumed gold mineralisation zone. One was further west (TS-DH20) than the other (TS-DH21).  

Both northern holes found significant widths of higher-grade gold than was expected. As a result, the project’s envelope of higher-grade mineralisation has been extended. It remains open to the northwest, north and northeast.

Assay results from the two northerly drill holes included:

• 228 metres at 0.86g/t Au from surface including 100 metres at 1.22g/t Au from 128 metres in TS-DH20.
• 274 metres at 0.82g/t Au from surface including 74 metres at 1.29g/t Au from 102 metres including 24.45 metres at 2.5g/t Au from 149.5 metres in TS-DH21.

Management commentary

Los Cerros managing director Jason Stirbinskis commented on the company’s findings at the Tesorito Project, saying:

The program of holes – TS-DH15, ’16, ‘17, ‘20, ‘21 and other more recent holes with results pending, were all intended to define the limits of Tesorito South porphyry mineralisation. However, all assay results thus far have reported significant widths of both lower and higher-grade gold and so the area of interest keeps getting bigger in the directions we’ve recently tested.

None of the reported holes were designed to test the deeper porphyry mineralisation discovered by hole TS-DH16 nor the Tesorito North porphyry mineralisation. A geological review is underway to optimise drill hole locations at both of these targets.

Los Cerros share price snapshot

Today’s news from Los Cerros has proven to be a spring in the step of the company’s share price, which has been performing well on the ASX this year.

Currently, the Los Cerros share price is up by 65% year to date. It’s also up a whopping 617% over the past 12 months.

Los Cerros has a market capitalisation of around $94 million, with approximately 471 million shares outstanding.

More reading

• Why the Los Cerros (ASX:LCL) share price is rocketing 20% today

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Worley Ltd (ASX: WOR) share price is seesawing this morning despite winning another contract award. The deal is the latest in a number of signings achieved over the past 2 months.

At the time of writing, the global engineering company’s shares are swapping hands for $10.76, down 0.09%. Worley shares were slightly in the green at market open before moving in negative territory.

Let’s take a closer look at what the company updated the ASX with.

Contract award

Worley shares are slipping slightly today after the company announced its latest news.

In today’s release, Worley advised it has been awarded an engineering and procurement services contract from Chevron USA for services at one of its deep-water production facilities situated in the Gulf of Mexico.

The deal will see Worley provide engineering and design for the “integration and subsea tieback of the Ballymore oil and gas field”. Worley noted that it is supporting both the subsea and topsides designs and will provide procurement services for topsides.

The company stated that topsides services and project management will be looked after by its United States Gulf Coast team.

Intecsea, a subsidiary of Worley, will undertake services for the subsea area of the project. Intecsea is a global leader in subsea systems, offshore pipelines, floating systems and overall field development. Lastly, Worley’s support team for the project will be run by its Global Integrated Delivery office in India.

Worley CEO, Chris Ashton, welcomed the new deal, saying:

As a global professional services company headquartered in Australia, we look forward to helping Chevron meet the world’s changing energy needs and continuing Worley’s longstanding global relationship with Chevron.

About the Worley share price

While the Worley share price has increased close to 50% over the past year, year-to-date performance is down 6%. Since the beginning of February, the company’s shares have moved sideways, despite several contracts being awarded.

Worley has a market capitalisation of about $5.6 billion, and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 71.80.

More reading

• ASX 200 drops, Santos entices CEO, Centuria acquires again
• Worley (ASX:WOR) share price edges lower despite contract award
• Why the Worley (ASX:WOR) share price will be on watch this morning

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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 Bruce Jackson.

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The Talga Group Ltd (ASX: TLG) share price is slipping this morning after news of the company’s electric vehicle anode (EVA) qualification plant. The up-and-coming plant will be located in Northern Sweden, supplying European battery and electric vehicle manufacturers with ultra-low emission graphite anodes.

Talga also owns three graphite mines and one cobalt mine in Sweden, and a processing facility in Germany. Its headquarters are in Perth. It states that its vertical integration provides it with a shorter, more secure supply chain and a local market.

The Talga share price is down 1%, trading at $1.43 at the time of writing.

Let’s take a closer look at the news announced by Talga this morning.

EVA purchase plans

Today, Talga shared that, as part of the development of its EVA plant, it is engaging with battery and electric vehicle manufactures. The company said these talks were to work towards purchase agreements for the plant’s planned output.

Talga also provided an update from the EVA plant. The company advised that designs for the plant had been finalised and engineering work was progressing well. It has now placed orders for the materials and equipment needed to build the plant.

The company stated the continuation of works was thanks in part to an equity raising held in December.

Talga’s flagship Talnode-C graphite anode product is currently being qualified in a range of lithium-ion battery applications. As a result, Talga needs to increase its production of commercial Talnode-C sample quantities, particularly for the electric vehicle market.

Therefore, the EVA plant is critical for the company’s progression into the electric vehicle supply chain.

Talga hopes to commence its EVA plant’s installation in the fourth quarter of 2021.

As well as anode production, the EVA plant will house a battery materials laboratory which will include battery cell making facilities for cycle testing and quality control.

It will employ around 10 people, and recruitment has already begun.

Commentary from management

Talga managing director Mark Thompson said the EVA plant was a key step in the company’s partnering and product qualification process.

Talga’s existing demonstration and pilot facilities have taken our flagship Talnode®-C product through a range of customer qualification stages.

The EVA plant will now provide the larger EV quality anode samples that our automotive battery customers require for their procurement processes and planned production schedules.

Talga share price snapshot

The ASX hasn’t been great for Talga in 2021. Currently, the Talga share price is down 21% year to date. Though, it is up an impressive 381% over the last 12 months.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $438 million, with approximately 303 million shares outstanding.

More reading

• Why the Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) share price is rocketing 90% today
• 2 ASX tech shares rated as buys by brokers
• Earnings: 2 hot stocks to watch this week
• Up 25% this month, is the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price a buy?
• These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper 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 Bruce Jackson.

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Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX: RTR) shares are rocketing higher this morning after a discovery update from the Aussie miner. At the time of writing, the Rumble Resources share price is trading 88.89% higher at 34 cents.  

Why are Rumble Resources shares surging?

Rumble Resources has this morning announced the assay results of two RC drill holes fast-tracked at its Chinook Prospect. Those assay results have confirmed a Major Zinc-Lead Discovery for the Aussie mining group.

Today’s release said the Chinook Prospect has the potential to be at the upper end of the existing exploration target. That’s based on consistent grades of 4% to 5% zinc and lead.

Rumble noted the importance of the shallow Zinc-Lead mineralisation, which makes large-scale open cut mining possible.

The discovery news has seen the Rumble Resources share price rocket higher in early trade. Shares in the Aussie mining group jumped 97.2% at the open to 37 cents per share before retreating to their current level.

Rumble said the results have highlighted the potential for a very large-scale, Tier 1, Zinc-Lead System. The Chinook Prospect drilling has only tested 2km of the 45km of prospective mineralised strike.

That means the miner sees significant potential to delineate multiple large tonnage, shallow, open pit deposits.

Based on the Rumble Resources share price surge, investors are clearly buoyed by the discovery news and bullish sentiment in this morning’s update.

Rumble Resources also said RC drilling is now complete with a total meterage of 3,593 metres for 33 holes. Rumble fast-tracked the drill holes for multi-element assays with 26 holes at the Chinook Prospect and 7 holes at its Magazine Prospect.

Foolish takeaway

The Rumble Resources share price has shot out of the blocks with an almost 90% gain in early trade. That comes on the back of strong drilling results from the Aussie miner with significant upside potential.

More reading

• Why the Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) share price is surging 28% today

Motley Fool contributor Ken Hall 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 Bruce Jackson.

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ASX tech shares are some of the most sought after businesses by investors. They have the ability to earn high margins and potentially make good returns.

Brokers are always evaluating businesses, including those in the technology sector. If the broker thinks they’re good value for the next 12 months, then the broker will rate that company as a buy.

These two are ones that made the cut as buys:

Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB)

This fintech offers a number of financial services. Its investment and superannuation platform offers a range of investment options, with transaction and reporting options for all types of investors – individuals, companies, trusts, associations or self-managed super funds.

Hub24 says that it’s appealing for advisers and clients because of the choice and innovative products that it provides, which creates value.

It’s currently rated as a buy by Citi, with a price target of $26.40.

A couple of months ago the ASX tech share reported its FY21 half-year result to 31 December 2021. It reported that platform funds under administration (FUA) increased by 39% to $22 billion (and had increased another $2 billion to $24 billion). This included a half-year record of net inflows of $3.1 billion, up 24%.

It reported that total FUA, including the portfolio administration and reporting service (PARS) from Ord Minnett, rose to $31 billion.

All of the FUM growth helped the other financial statistics. Platform segment revenue increased 25% to $43.8 million. Platform underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 26% to $17.4 million.

Underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) went up 39% to $7.5 million. Statutory profit was $6.1 million after excluding costs related to acquisitions.

The company expects to continue its growth and has increased its FY22 target platform UFA range to $43 billion to $49 billion.  

On Citi’s numbers, the Hub24 share price is valued at 53x FY22’s estimated earnings.

Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Nextdc is the owner and operator of high quality data centres. It says that it’s a data centre-as-a-service provider, building the infrastructure platform for the digital economy, delivering the critical power, security and connectivity for global cloud computing providers, enterprise and government.

Its cloud partner ecosystem is Australia’s most dynamic digital marketplace, comprising more than 600 carriers, cloud providers and IT service providers. It enables local and international customers to source and connect with cloud platforms, service providers and vendors to scale their IT infrastructure services.

There has been a significant increase in demand since the COVID-19 pandemic started as many businesses and organisation shifted their IT online.

Citi also rates Nextdc as a buy, with a price target of $14.45.

The ASX tech share’s half-year FY21 result was stronger than the broker was expecting, with more growth expected in the coming years.

Half-year data centre revenue grew 27% to $121.6 million. Underlying EBITDA went up 29% to $65.7 million and operating cashflow went up 219% to $44 million.

Over the 12 months to 31 December 2020, contracted utilisation went up 33% to 71MW and the number of customers went up 16% to 1,465.

Based on the strong level of demand, Nextdc increased its FY21 guidance for underlying EBITDA to a range of $130 million to $133 million.

Management said that second half sales had already exceeded expectations and it’s expecting further strong demand for its data centres into FY22.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• Why ASX 200 tech shares are vital to manufacturers’ reshoring plans
• 2 of the best ASX shares to buy now
• Insiders have been buying NextDC (ASX:NXT) and this ASX share
• ASX 200 down 0.4%: Tech shares rise, Afterpay increases US stake

Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Hub24 Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Hub24 Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Earnings season is here. Banks kicked things off last week, and this week will include earnings reports from companies of varying industries. But two companies worth paying special attention to are Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG).

Over the past 12 months, Netflix shares are up 33% and Chipotle stock has nearly doubled. Now investors will look to these two hot companies’ financial reports to see if their latest results continue to justify their premium valuations.

Netflix

The big story to watch when Netflix reports is the company’s subscriber growth. Management guided 6 million new members during the period. But there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether or not the company will be able to hit this target. Because Netflix saw abnormal subscriber growth in 2020 as consumers sheltered at home, there’re concerns that some of these subscribers may have cancelled their service as the economy reopens and they’re subsequently not spending as much time at home.

Investors should also check on the company’s operating margin. Netflix’s operating margin has been steadily rising every year. In 2020, it rose five percentage points to 18%. For 2021, management is targeting a 20% operating margin. But it expects a 25% operating margin in Q1.

Netflix reports its first-quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, April 20. 

Chipotle

In 2020, the resilience of Chipotle’s business was put on display. During a year that many restaurants struggled as consumers sheltered at home, Chipotle still managed to grow its revenue 7% year over year. Even more comparable restaurant sales, or sales at stores open 13 months or more, increased 1.8%.

Chipotle’s momentum was particularly strong at the end of the year with fourth-quarter revenue growing 11.6% year over year and comparable restaurant sales rising 5.7%.

In addition to checking on Chipotle’s quarterly revenue growth and its comparable restaurant sales, investors should look to see if the company managed to once again increase its restaurant-level operating margin on a year-over-year basis. In the fourth quarter of 2020, this key profitability metric was 19.5% — up 30 basis points from the year-ago period.

Finally, investors should look to see how digital sales growth has continued to perform. The company’s strong digital presence was a key reason Chipotle managed so well through the turbulence brought about by the pandemic last year. Total digital sales in 2020 increased 174% year over year. In Q4, digital sales rose 177%.

Investors should look for more triple-digit year-over-year growth in digital sales.

Chipotle reports its first-quarter results after market close on Wednesday, April 21. 

Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill and Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

More reading

• Netflix is losing market share, but this is the actual risk to shareholders
• Netflix just fixed its only disadvantage in streaming
• Love tech shares? This ASX ETF is a great buy today
• Netflix is crushing Disney in this fast-growing market
• Netflix is experimenting with releasing new episodes over a longer timeframe

Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Is the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price a buy after already rising approximately 25% in April 2021 so far? The buy now, pay later business is getting a lot of investor attention.

What is happening to the Afterpay share price?

In the middle of February 2021, the market started going through some jitters due to inflation and interest rate worries. The Afterpay share price dropped by around a third to $101 at the end of March 2021.

But Afterpay has been making a recovery since then.

One of the most helpful things for the resurgence was a media update by the company on 1 April 2021 when it announced results and consumer shopping trends for its bi-annual Afterpay Day sale – the first time it included brick and mortar shopping.

Afterpay revealed that the US sale helped new active customers grow by 35% compared to Afterpay Day in August 2020.

The buy now, pay later business said that traffic to Afterpay’s brand partners was also strong. It sent nearly six million referrals to global merchants from its shop directory during the sale’s duration. Some of the most popular purchases were from Crocs, Nike, Fenty Beauty, Ulta Beauty and UGG.

The buy now, pay later business said it has more than 16 million US customers and over 75,000 global retail partners. It also said that it has a strong pipeline of new merchants continuing to launch in 2021. In December 2020, Afterpay referred more than 40 million customers to its merchant partners through its shop directory.

The Afterpay share price has been rising since this update.

FY21 half-year result

The first six months of the FY21 result was another period of triple digit growth.

Underlying sales went up 106% to $9.8 billion. Afterpay income went up by 108%.

Customer and merchant growth remained strong. Customer numbers rose by 80% to 13.1 million and merchant numbers rose by 73% to 74,700.

The income growth led to the net transaction margin growing 110% to $213.9 million. There was an increase in the net transaction margin as a percentage of underlying sales from 2.1% to 2.2%.

In terms of an operating profitability metric, Afterpay reported that its underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) surged 521% to $47.9 million.

Whilst there was the expected growth in ANZ and the US, there were some promising developments in two other markets.

Canada continues to ramp up both in country and cross border. The current annualised underlying sales run rate is around $90 million.

In the UK, it achieved 288% growth of underlying sales to $0.8 billion. The number of active merchants went up 812% and the contribution from returning customers increased from 87% to 90% at 31 December 2020.

Is the Afterpay share price a buy?

There’s mixed views on Afterpay.

Broker UBS rates Afterpay shares as a sell, with a price target of $36. It’s worried about more competition in the space, such as from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). UBS is concerned about the rule changing where merchants are not currently allowed to pass on costs to customers. Regulations changing could be bad news for Afterpay.

However, Morgan Stanley has a buy rating on Afterpay with a price target of $149, with the ongoing adoption of Afterpay’s services as well as expansion in other non-retail sectors.

More reading

• Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) CEO hits out at Afterpay and BNPL providers
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX 200 hits new post-COVID high
• 3 of the best ASX shares to buy this month
• Zip (ASX:Z1P) eyes potential stock and crypto trading services
• Top broker tips Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price to rocket higher

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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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:

• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) continues to be the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest pulling back to 11.4%. Concerns over the recovery of the travel market and its lofty valuation appear to be weighing on investor sentiment.
• Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR) has seen its short interest ease slightly to 9.8%. Investors have been shorting the seafood company due to weak salmon prices and concerns over the Australia-China trade war.
• Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) has seen its short interest rise week on week again to 9.1%. This gold miner has come under pressure from a series of disappointing developments such as its weak full year result and even weaker guidance. Positively, the termination of its Bibiani mining licence in Ghana was reversed last week.
• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has short interest of 9.1%, which is up slightly week on week. As with Webjet, valuation and travel market recovery concerns are weighing on sentiment.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8.3% of its shares held short, which is flat week on week. An unfavourable shift in its sales mix and the surprise exit of its CEO appear be weighing on investor sentiment.
• Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) has seen its short interest remain flat at 7.4%. Valuation, price war, and high capital expenditure plans seem to be behind this short interest.
• Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has short interest of 6.3%, which is up slightly since last week. Given its lofty valuation and rising bond yields, short sellers appear to believe its shares are overvalued.
• InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC) has 6.2% of its shares held short, which is down slightly week on week. This high level of short interest appears to have been driven by concerns that the funeral company could be losing market share to its rivals.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest remain flat at 6.1%. This appears to be another case of short sellers targeting a company that trades on sky high multiples while bond yields rise.
• JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) is back in the top ten with 5.9% of its shares held short. Short sellers may believe its shares are overvalued given how its earnings are likely to have peaked in FY 2021.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX 200 hits new post-COVID high
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• These were the best performing ASX 200 shares last week
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James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends MEGAPORT FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited, InvoCare Limited, MEGAPORT FPO, and Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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