The Aconex Ltd (ASX: ACX) share price has risen 5% today, rising to $4.42 after ending last week at $4.21 per share.
Aconex is a business that provides a cloud-based collaboration platform for the global construction industry. Essentially, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform can be used to help with communications and document management, thus enabling smoother completion of projects, both big and small.
The company made its debut on the ASX late in 2014, listing for $1.90 per share. It wasn't long before the Aconex share price had topped $8.50, representing a gain of almost 350% for the company's initial investors. That was in July 2016.
In the time since, however, the Aconex share price has suffered a major decline, even falling below $3 in February. They have rebounded somewhat since then but remain well below their all-time high levels.
Although the company hasn't released any news that would help explain today's move, it's possible that movements in the short interest surrounding the business could be a reason. Indeed, Aconex has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent months with growth coming in below the market's once lofty expectations. That was enough to cause some investors to short, or bet against, the Aconex share price, with expectations it would fall instead.
According to data from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), 12.9% of Aconex's shares were held short as at 29 May 2017, down from 13.5% a week earlier, indicating that those investors may be becoming more positive about the group's outlook (or, at very least, less bearish).
Other companies that are enjoying strong increases in their share prices today include iSentia Group Ltd (ASX: ISD) and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN). They have risen 4.3% and 2.8%, respectively, although the market itself is sitting 0.8% in the red.
