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CAR Group heads into the week of October 17 with an unusual split: the stock is rising, short sellers are adding positions, and the borrow market remains comfortably loose.
The short-interest build is the week's most pointed tension. Short interest climbed 7.8% over the past week to 4.9% of the free float, with roughly 18.6 million shares now on loan. That is the highest short reading in the 30-day window, and it has been building almost every session since early October. At the same time the stock itself gained 4.4% on the week to close at AUD 23.80 on October 16, so bears are pressing into a bid, not retreating. The ORTEX short score has drifted up to 54.9 from 51.6 two weeks ago, a gradual tightening rather than an aggressive spike, but the direction is clear.
The lending market tells a calmer story. Availability is running at 414%, meaning there are more than four shares available to borrow for every one already out on loan. The 52-week tightest point was 83%, so current conditions are loose by any measure. Cost to borrow sits at 1.17%, down 38% over the past month and well off mid-September peaks near 1.95%. That combination, rising short interest alongside loose and cheap borrow, suggests new shorts are entering at low friction rather than being squeezed out, which is a different signal from what was visible six weeks ago when CTB was elevated.
The Street is quiet on CAR Group. The analyst consensus sits at hold with only two analysts on record, and no rating changes have been filed in the recent window. Valuation multiples give mixed reads: the PE is 18x with a 30-day decline of roughly one point, and price-to-book is near 3.0x, also drifting lower. EV/EBITDA has moved to just under 12x. The factor score profile points to the tension: dividend rank is in the 99th percentile, but short-score rank is at the 19th percentile and days-to-cover rank sits at the 22nd. EPS surprise scores at 30, suggesting the company has not been consistently beating estimates. The short score rank being this low while actual short interest is only at 4.9% of float reflects a relatively benign positioning picture, but one that is nudging in the wrong direction.
Ownership data flags one notable recent move. KKR & Co. disclosed a 5.0% stake in early October, with the full 18.98 million shares listed as a new position at last report. First Sentier Investors also added roughly 3.2 million shares to take a 4.9% stake. AustralianSuper remains the largest holder at 9.4%, though its most recent position data is from June 30. Against that backdrop, JPMorgan trimmed its position by around 2.5 million shares as of early September. The insider picture is uneventful: recent transactions have been small grants, and the 90-day net is zero on both share count and value terms.
CAR Group reports its next earnings on November 9. The prior full-year result in August produced a one-day move of nearly 10% to the upside and a five-day gain of 9.5%, while the result before that saw the stock fall 2.4%. Closest ASX peers REA and SEK both gained around 3.6% to 4.0% on the week, in line with CAR's own move, so there is no unusual divergence in the digital classifieds cohort right now.
With earnings three weeks out, the next question is whether the short rebuild continues at its current pace, and whether KKR's fresh 5% stake signals strategic intent that draws further attention to the name ahead of the November print.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
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