AXG is heading into its June 30 earnings date with a sharp reversal in short positioning — the very trend that defined last week's note has now flipped.
Short interest has jumped 79% over the past week, rising from roughly 286,000 shares to just over 513,000. That said, the absolute level remains modest at 0.33% of the free float, so this is not a heavily shorted name by any standard. What is notable is the speed of the rebuild. Short sellers who unwound aggressively through late May have clearly reversed course — the position has essentially doubled in a week, erasing much of the prior unwind. The previous note flagged a 56% decline in short interest over the month; that picture now looks materially different.
The borrow market reinforces a cautious tone. Cost to borrow has climbed to 24.3% annualised — up roughly 4% on the week and 12% over the month. That is a persistently elevated rate for a stock with sub-1% short float, and it has held above 20% for the better part of six weeks. Availability has tightened over the week, dropping about 24% to land at 27.2%. For every 100 shares currently borrowed, only 27 remain in the lending pool. The 52-week low on availability hit 2%, so there is room to tighten further, but current conditions already indicate a fairly constrained borrow market for a name this small.
The ORTEX short score has been drifting quietly higher all month. It now reads 58.9, up from around 57.1 two weeks ago. That is a mid-range reading but on a clear upward trajectory — the lending-market pressures are being reflected in the composite score even as the absolute short interest stays low. The stock itself has drifted in the opposite direction, falling 8.2% over the past month to $3.45, with a further 1.4% slip on the week.
Ownership is heavily concentrated. The two largest holders — Ling Ngai Lok and Firewood Group Limited — control roughly 64% of shares between them, and neither reported any change in their March filings. Institutional interest beyond the insiders is thin, with Morgan Stanley holding just under 0.5% as of March and a handful of small funds rounding out the rest. With nearly two-thirds of the float locked up and short sellers now rebuilding positions, the effective tradeable pool is narrow.
Earnings history at AXG has produced sharp moves. The January 2026 release saw a 7% decline on the day. The two prior prints, both in mid-2025, delivered gains of 8% and 10% on the day respectively — though the December 2024 report was the outlier, with a 38% spike on the day and over 42% by the five-day mark. The June 30 date is now less than four weeks away, and the direction of short repositioning heading into it is what the lending market will be watching most closely.
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