BUZZ-Ashtead: A primer on positioning

For a company that seemingly can't put a foot wrong the steepest two-day drop in its share price in nearly two years on little news is worth a look.

** Ashtead Group (LSE: AHT.L - news) slips 7.5% adding to Monday's losses and is now more than 10% below last week's record high.

** According to StarMine 15 analysts cover the stock. 15 buys, no holds, no sells.

** Ashtead is widely owned featuring as a top holding among a range of UK-focused funds including Franklin Templeton and Artemis, according to latest available fund factsheets.

** The stock has been on a tear up 10 times since late 2011.

** With the broader market taking a breather cashing in on outperformers is gathering pace especially among stocks on which sentiment is almost uniformly bullish.

** Just 0.5% of shares available to be borrowed are out on loan according to Markit.

** Stock had a similar swoon July last year when it fell 21 percent from a record high before resuming uptrend.

(Stocks Buzz is a pilot project. Please send any feedback or suggestions to vikram.subhedar@thomsonreuters.com) (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : vikram.subhedar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)