6 Highly Shorted Companies Releasing Earnings Next Week

Among the companies reporting earnings next week, we screened for those that have seen large increases in short interest month-over-month. These stocks may see significant short-covering if they report a positive earnings surprise.

The screen produced a final group of 6 stocks, listed below with increases in short interest expressed as a percent of share float.



Do you think these stocks could surprise us? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.

List sorted by increase in short interest as a percent of share float.

1. Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN): Apparel Stores Industry. Market cap of $5.33B. Earnings to be released on 5/16. Shares shorted have increased from 12.63M to 15.86M month-over-month, a change representing 2.64% of a 122.39M share float. The stock has lost 16.59% over the last year.



2. Monro Muffler Brake Inc. (MNRO): Auto Parts Industry. Market cap of $930.54M. Earnings to be released on 5/17. Shares shorted have increased from 3.38M to 3.92M month-over-month, a change representing 1.92% of a 28.12M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 11.88% (equivalent to 10.63 days of average volume). The stock has gained 18.54% over the last year.



3. Aruba Networks, Inc. (ARUN): Networking & Communication Devices Industry. Market cap of $3.23B. Earnings to be released on 5/19. Shares shorted have increased from 10.05M to 11.47M month-over-month, a change representing 1.51% of a 94.18M share float. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.01). The stock has gained 164.74% over the last year.

4. Star Scientific, Inc. (CIGX): Cigarettes Industry. Market cap of $558.81M. Earnings to be released on 5/16. Shares shorted have increased from 16.33M to 17.75M month-over-month, a change representing 1.51% of a 94.00M share float. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 10.64% over the last week.

5. Abiomed Inc. (ABMD): Medical Instruments & Supplies Industry. Market cap of $651.40M. Earnings to be released on 5/16. Shares shorted have increased from 1.73M to 2.12M month-over-month, a change representing 1.24% of a 31.48M share float. ABMD is exhibiting strong upside momentum--currently trading 6.17% above its SMA20, 15.76% above its SMA50, and 49.93% above its SMA200. The stock has gained 75.43% over the last year.

6. NetEase.com, Inc. (NTES): Internet Software & Services Industry. Market cap of $5.91B. Earnings to be released on 5/18. Shares shorted have increased from 1.88M to 2.70M month-over-month, a change representing 1.17% of a 69.81M share float. The stock has performed poorly over the last month, losing 13.53%.

*Short data sourced from Yahoo Finance, earnings date and all other data sourced from Finviz.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.