strategic viewpoint on IVC, page-173

Hedge funds on high alert for Aussie short squeeze
by Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald, January 27, 2021 04:34 AM

On a “days to cover” basis, which calculates the number of trading days required to close out all short interest in a stock, Goldies reckons the most at-risk stock for a short squeeze on the ASX is funeral home operator InvoCare.Invocare has 11.6 million shares shorted, or 8.1 per cent of its free float, and it would take 33 days to unwind all those shorts based on its average daily trading volume. Next on Goldies’ short-squeeze list was Tassal Group, which has seen its short interest explode 106 per cent in the past quarter, closely followed by poultry producer Inghams Group. Others in the top 10 included Cimic, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Metcash, Seven Group Holdings, Pro Medicus and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co.The biggest target by size in the screen was resources behemoth BHP, which has 3.6 per cent of its free float shorted and would take 16 days to cover. While Street Talk isn’t doubting the Redditors power, a BHP short squeeze might be a touch too big for the trading army that communicates via the forum r/wallstreetbets. It all comes as hedge funds are on high alert for short squeezes after traders from online internet forum Reddit stormed US markets to wage war on two hedge funds in particular, that had been shorting video game retailer GameStop.The Redditors sent GameStop stock soaring almost 250 per cent since Friday, and the short squeeze attack forced one of the targeted hedge funds, Melvin Capital, to source a $US2.75 billion rescue package from Citadel and Point72 this week.