Screening for the most shorted European securities within the STOXX Europe 600 Index reveals two Swedish equities that currently top the list:

Sinch (SINCH SS), a cloud communication platform, was flagged recently by short selling firm Ningi Research in a tweet alleging the company overstated previous earnings results to beat analyst estimates. The company just reported disappointing net sales for 2Q earnings after the allegations, with the CEO stepping down as well.     

Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget (SBBB SS), a real estate company, is a target of activist short seller Fraser Perring of Viceroy Research. SBBB SS posted a loss for the quarter in its most recent earnings call, and the stock subsequently fell over 20%, the most in two years. 

Shorts have been actively increasing their bearish bets against both names this year, including some “big” short bets by funds publicly disclosing shorts ≥ 0.50% of issued capital.