Select Harvests Ltd (ASX: SHV) is back in the top ten after its...

• Select Harvests Ltd (ASX: SHV) is back in the top ten after its short interest rose to 7.3%. This almond producer has been facing tough industry conditions and short sellers don't appear to believe things will improve quickly.

SHV is in the top 10 most shorted shares on the ASX at present, Motley has this to say:


I am am always amazed at the level of shorting in SHV as I have seen numerous times where the shooters get it wrong. Perhaps the shorting is actually more to do with trying to keep the price down rather than a view that the underlying share is overpriced as we see very quick spikes in the share price when the shorts get unwound.

The news of the return to El Niño conditions in Australia are, in the short term, positive for SHV as they present more favourable growing conditions for almonds, although prolonged periods can cause issues with water shortages which drive costs up.

Mea while, the news out of California points to better almond pricing conditions in the medium term with their crop pointing to lower volumes and quality.