Shorts are still increasing on this one

With the amount of capital investment in their operations already established and generating positive returns, it seems irrational to have a short position on PLS here.

I would think it makes sense to have a short position on a developer that are still building up or refining their operations.

When I checked last week @edgescape Pilbara (PLS) were the most shorted stock on the ASX. I think it's a sector play more than a company play, so the shorters are going for the ASX's highest profile lithium producer to short lithium, based on the expected increase in supply ahead of a further increase in demand a bit later. I think they're stuffing it up by shorting Pilbara however as PLS are cashed up, debt free, have low costs and will easily be the last producer standing (from an ASX POV) if lithium prices tank. PLS also appear to have very smart and capable management who don't seem inclined to waste that cash that they've got either, so perhaps they're thinking of it in term of a handy buffer to have if things do go pear-shaped across the wider industry.

The shorters could simply be thinking that PLS are overbought and thus are overpriced, but again I think there's far more likely to be a short squeeze at some point regarding PLS than a big win for those shorters.

I do not hold PLS. I hold MIN. However, I think PLS are very well run and I would NOT be shorting them, even if I was inclined to short companies, which I'm not... I personally don't want to have exposure to a 100% lithium play at this point, hence hedging my bets through MIN (who have iron ore and mining services as well, plus one of the sharpest minds in the Australian mining and mining services sectors running the show and owning 11.5% of the company - meaning 22.5m of their 195.2m shares on issue). But if I wanted pure lithium exposure, PLS would be hard to go past...

Further viewing/listening:

Full Video: How Will Pilbara Minerals Spend Their $3.3B? With CEO Dale Henderson | Daily Mining Show - YouTube [04-Aug-2023]

Or you can skip straight to the PLS stuff via either clicking on the image above or using this link: https://youtu.be/zAvBZOhIMf4?t=194

P.S. One possible reason to short PLS is if you thought they were going to spend those billions in cash on an overpriced acquisition of another lesser quality business (or three)... I doubt that they will, but it is a possibility.