SYDNEY, June 27, 2026, 03:02 AEST
- WiseTech finished Friday at A$31.55, adding 0.51%. Shares had fallen 18.4% on Monday to end at A$30.08, the lowest close since early June 2021.
- Short data from ASIC showed 8.36% of WiseTech shares were shorted, totaling roughly 28.1 million shares, worth about A$887 million based on Friday’s close.
- The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) added 0.18% on Friday, but still finished the week down 0.73%.
WiseTech Global Ltd. ASX:WTC heads into the weekend trading session on the ASX with short interest around A$900 million, a figure that puts a number on the governance-triggered selloff that’s driven the logistics software stock down 74% from its 52-week high. The Australian Securities Exchange trades on Sydney time from 9:59 a.m. to 4 p.m. AEST, Monday through Friday.
Shares ended Friday at A$31.55, gaining 16 cents. Shares traded between A$30.065 and A$31.83. Volume hit 4.62 million, more than double the average from Google Finance at 2.24 million.
S&P/ASX 200 ticked up 15.5 points, or 0.18%, to 8,764.2 at the close. The index was still down 64.5 points on the week. Not much action in the broader market. WiseTech’s move was mostly a single-stock story, not something that swung the index.
WiseTech shares slumped 18.4% to A$30.08 Monday. Media reports said Australian Federal Police is investigating executive chairman Richard White, focusing on allegations about a woman’s immigration status and visa data. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the reports. The federal police told Reuters it would comment “at an appropriate time.” WiseTech gave no comment to Reuters. Reuters
WiseTech said in an ASX statement the day after the media reports that those reports about White were about him personally, not the company. WiseTech said there was no suggestion the company was under investigation. The company also said it was not aware of any investigation like the one described in the article. WiseTech said White “emphatically and unequivocally denies any involvement in or with human trafficking.”
Short data is important here because it points to more than a single day of selling from long-only investors. Shorted.com.au, using ASIC’s official short-position numbers (T+4 lag), had 8.36% of WiseTech shares, or 28.1 million, marked short as of June 26. ASIC bases its summary on seller filings but says it can’t check every submission from every short seller.
ShortInterest.au, pulling from ASIC T+4 data, also has short interest at 8.36% as of June 22. That’s a 52-week high and up 0.95 percentage point in a week. Next week’s data will show if Monday’s drop brought in more shorts or triggered some short covering.
Morningstar’s Roy Van Keulen left his fair value estimate for WiseTech at A$138, which is still more than four times where the stock finished on Friday. Van Keulen said a 15% to 20% cut to fair value would make sense if White leaves, saying “White remains instrumental to the company’s continued success.” Morningstar
WiseTech posted a 76% jump in first-half revenue to $672.0 million in its results. Stripping out e2open, WiseTech was up 11% to $422.6 million, while e2open brought in $249.4 million. CargoWise revenue rose 12% to $372.4 million. Organic growth for the group came in at 7%. The business numbers here do not match what’s on the share tape.
WiseTech’s price-to-earnings ratio was 44.87 on Google Finance after the drop, so the stock still trades like a software growth company instead of a beaten-up industrial. That’s the split keeping valuation risk front and center.
WiseTech is in the midst of a major AI overhaul. Reuters said in February the company was set to cut about 2,000 jobs, 29% of its global staff. CEO Zubin Appoo said, “The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over.” Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs, told Reuters the current weakness looked “more governance-driven than fundamental.” Reuters
WiseTech’s next scheduled result is its preliminary report on Aug. 26, according to Market Index. Ahead of that, focus is on the delayed ASIC short data, any new statement from the ASX, and whether WiseTech can keep Friday’s A$31.55 close above the 52-week low at A$28.76.
