Nanosonics shorts build ahead of crucial new product launch
Fresh from receiving FDA approval, the $1.3 billion medical device company is one of the stronger performers on the ASX this year. But short sellers sniff weakness.
Short sellers are building positions against Nanosonics as the high-flying, $1.3 billion medical device company faces growing competition at home, budgetary headwinds in the US and uncertainty around how its hotly anticipated new product will sell in market.
Nanosonics shares are up 44% over the past year, against a near 10% rise for the broader market. But the device maker has become the 25th most shorted stock on the ASX, fresh ASIC data shows, with hedge funds almost doubling their short positions in the last nine weeks to control nearly 19 million shares or 6.25% of the company.
It comes as the Australian success story which pioneered the Trophon, a top of the range ultrasound disinfectant device, faces a series of questions in the market – most notably how the launch of CORIS, its new device which disinfects flexible endoscopes after use, will fare even as analysts remain bullish.
“In MedTech, launches rarely outperform expectations,” Cannaccord Genuity healthcare analyst Elyse Shapiro told Capital Brief.
