Joint Corp

Joint Corp (8874), the Japan-based real estate property trader, has become the target of short investors this side of 2008. In January, the percentage of the company's Market Cap out on Loan (%MCOL) to short investors was 2%, it then increased to 8% last week, and is now at 7%, with a slight upturn in the past day. As you can see from this graph, although short sellers came to the trade relatively late, they would have made considerable profits since the start of the year when they started to increase their positions. This percentage is high for an Asian stock, and although the Utilisation is quite big at 63%, it is unusual for an Asian stock to have 37% left to borrow with a %MCOL above 5%. For instance, Cfs Corp (8229), another Japanese Small Cap Stock, has a %MCOL of 1.7%, but it is 90% Utilised. The average Utilisation for the rest of the Japan Small Caps is 13%, for the rest of the Japan Real Estate Sector of which Joint Corp is a member, it is 7%.