The start of the new financial year hasn't brought much joy for the Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price this Monday. In fact, Pilbara Minerals shares are starting FY2025 off at a very low point indeed.
Last week, shares of this ASX 200 lithium stock closed at $3.07 each. But today, those same Pilbara Minerals shares opened at $3.08 before sinking as low as $3.02 each. Not only is that a new 52-week low for Pilbara Minerals, but the lowest this lithium stock has traded at in almost two years.
Yep, you'd have to go back 22 months to August 2022 to find the last time Pilbara had $3.02 as its share price.
Pilbara Minerals shares' rough 2024
It's a steep fall from grace for an ASX share that has previously made its investors very wealthy. Between June and November 2022, Pilbara Minerals shares soared from around $2.20 each to a record high of around $5.40. That was a gain worth more than 130% over just a few months.
In 2023, the company remained volatile but treaded water based on that year's bookend prices. But in 2024, the story has been decidedly negative. Pilbara started this year at $3.98 a share before climbing to roughly $4.40 in early March.
But ever since then, it has been down and down for this lithium stock. Today's fresh low puts the Pilbara Minerals share price down 23.5% year to date, and more than 31% lower than that March high.
Check that all out for yourself below:
Pilbara's woes have been a lucrative money-making opportunity for one group, though.
Short sellers have been feasting on Pilbara Minerals shares this year. Pilbara routinely pops up on the list of ASX 200 shares that have the highest proportion of their stock held in a short position. In fact, over 2024, Pilbara has made the top ten list almost every week. That includes this week, as my Fool colleague James documented this morning.
Short sellers make money by borrowing someone else's shares with a promise to return them at a set date. The shorter then sells the shares, before buying them back when they are scheduled to be returned. If the company has fallen in value over this period, the shorter pockets the difference as a profit.
So it goes without saying that almost anyone who has shorted Pilbara Minerals shares in 2024 has done well.
But are these short sellers still holding tight? Or have they been taking money off the table as the company has fallen in value?
Well, let's get to the bottom of that question.
Are short sellers still betting against this ASX lithium stock?
As we went through back in January, Pilbara began 2024 as the ASX 200's most shorted stock, with a whopping 20.4% of its shares held in a short position.
Fast forward to February 19, and Pilbara was still at the top of the table, with 19.2% of its shares shorted.
By May 27, Pilbara's short interest had increased, with 21.2% of its shares wagered against the company.
We saw that pattern hold in June, with 21.6% of Pilbara shares shorted at one point.
And that gets us to July. As we covered this morning, Pilbara remains at the top of the ASX's most shorted shares list, with 20.7% of the company's shares held in a short position.
As such, it seems that a huge chunk of investors are still betting that this company has further to fall. Only time will tell if they prove to be correct.
