ASM enters the week to May 13 earnings on the back foot — the stock dropped nearly 9% on the week to CAD 8.75, giving back a chunk of April's strong run, while insiders were actively cashing out at the highs.
The insider selling is the standout story this week. Across April 17–24, no fewer than five Avino insiders hit the sell button. The COO, Jose Carlos Rodriguez Moreno, sold 243,300 shares over three consecutive sessions at prices between CAD 9.55 and CAD 9.88, raising roughly CAD 1.73 million equivalent. CFO Nathan Harte sold 50,000 shares at CAD 10.83 on April 17, the same day the Corporate Secretary and a Vice President also trimmed holdings. The 90-day net insider balance, at over 1.7 million net shares received (largely via awards), remains positive in headline terms — but the recent cluster of open-market sales at prices well above today's close tells its own story.
Positioning in the lending market, by contrast, is anything but alarming. The short interest figure — roughly 1.6% of the free float — is genuinely small. What is notable is the pace of its recent buildup: short interest has risen more than tenfold from near-zero levels in late March, reaching around 2.5 million shares by mid-April before easing slightly. That said, availability is generous and borrowing costs have dropped sharply. Cost to borrow has fallen roughly 45% on the week to just 0.55%, the lowest of the past six weeks. With borrow conditions this loose, the short-side activity looks opportunistic rather than conviction-driven.
The broader context is constructive for silver miners. Q1 production came in at 263,057 silver-equivalent ounces, plus 1,851 gold ounces and 1.3 million pounds of copper, and on April 16 the company updated its mineral reserve estimate to include the La Preciosa asset. HC Wainwright reiterated its Buy rating and CAD 12.50 target on April 17 — the only active Street coverage currently visible in the data, and one where the target implies meaningful upside from Friday's close. Analyst data from other firms is either absent or too stale to be usable here.
Peers gave no shelter on the week. MUX fell 8.9%, while ORE shed almost 8%. TKO was the sole outperformer in the peer group, edging up 1.5%. The sector-wide pressure suggests macro forces — a broader precious metals pullback — are doing most of the work in dragging ASM lower, rather than any company-specific deterioration.
The next test is the Q1 earnings release on May 13. The last three comparable reporting events produced first-day moves of -1.4%, -5.6%, and -8.6%, with five-day follow-through ranging from -10% to -28%. Whether the market treats the confirmed production numbers as a positive catalyst or simply a repeat of prior-quarter sell-the-news patterns is the dynamic worth tracking into that date.
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