BUZZ-ASOS: risks of a traditional retailer, little of the benefit

** ASOS (LSE: ASC.L - news) ' 10 pct jump on Friday on an Exane upgrade has left valuations again looking stretched after a Q4 rally

** Choppy week with stock down sharply on Thursday after CEO sold 10 pct of stake

** Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) down 60 pct in last year, but rallied 71 pct from October lows to Jan. 22 Chart: http://link.reuters.com/qax83w

** Market still pricing in steep revenue growth despite co guiding towards flat FY profits in September

** StarMine projects 5-yr average annual earnings growth of 9.9 pct, v mkt-implied rate of 23.5 pct, Fwd P/E of 57 v 16.7 for Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news)

** ASOS v Next chart (share price, P/E, EPS): http://link.reuters.com/rux83w

** Exane upgrades to "outperform" from "neutral", says investment in growth means co better positioned than ever before

** However, expansion into overseas markets leaves ASOS with stock risk of a traditional retailer with none of the economies of scale say Liberum, that rates a "sell"

** Short-sellers return to building positions: shares out on loan rose from 1.2 pct in June to 13.7 pct in October, easing to 9.7 pct in December before rising back to 13.6 pct as of Jan. 28, according to Markit (NasdaqGS: MRKT - news)

** Firms shorting co include AQR, JPMorgan Asset Management, Old Mutual Global Investors and Steadfast Capital Management, according to FCA's short-selling disclosures (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : alasdair.pal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)