The Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price is taking a tumble in trade on Friday. With no announcements out from the online retailer, it appears the company is at the peril of a broader selloff in the market.
At the time of writing, the Kogan share price is 3.79% lower to $11.16 apiece. Likewise, the consumer discretionary sector is the second worst-performing today, down 2.2%.
For comparison, the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is trending 1.4% lower to 7,237.2 points.
Let's cover a couple of reasons why Kogan might be feeling the pinch today.
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Making the most shorted
While the Kogan share price is possibly feeling the pain of a widespread red day, there's a couple of reasons that could be making it worse for this company.
Firstly, the company has found itself the target of heavy short selling over recent times. As covered on Wednesday, Kogan shares are the second most heavily shorted shares on the ASX this week. According to ASIC data, short interest was 10.2% — only beaten by Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB).
Often companies that are heavily shorted find themselves under added pressure on negative trading sessions. As a result, this could be adding to the displeasure of Kogan investors on Friday.
Secondly, the Kogan share price experienced a possible sugar hit when roughly a third of Australia entered lockdowns in late June. Since then, many restrictions have been lifted across states and territories.
With this in mind, any potential uplift in online sales may have been short-lived.
Kogan share price recap
Investors of the online retailer would be well experienced with red days by now. The Kogan share price has been on a bearish trend since late October 2020. Back then the company's shares reached a peak of $25.57, a far cry from today's ~$11.16 figure.
Since the beginning of the year, the Kogan share price has fallen more than 42%. As a result, the company now seats around a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27.55. This compares to the retail industry average P/E ratio of 38.2 times.
