Top 5 Must-Follow Earnings for Monday

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Another week into earnings season and Wall Street is still moving at full speed. Here is what to watch on Monday.

Vivus (VVUS)

Who They Are: Vivus is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative, next-generation therapies to address unmet needs in obesity, diabetes and sexual health. Vivus trades an average of 14.1 million shares per day with a marketcap of $2.2 billion.

VVUS data by YCharts

Vivus is forecast to record shallow second-quarter earnings after the market closes July 30. The consensus estimate is currently a loss of 23 cents a share, another drop of three cents from a loss of 20 cents during the equivalent quarter last year.

Analyst opinion is mixed with this company. Most of the analysts surveyed don't believe a buy or a sell is currently warranted. Right now, Vivus has five buy recommendations out of 11 analysts covering the company, six holds, and no analysts recommend selling.

Four out of 11 analysts now rate Vivus a strong buy down from five analysts a month ago. Compared to three months ago, fewer analysts are rating this company as a strong buy. The stock has appreciated 180% in the last year, and the average analyst target price for Vivus is $38.29.

It's not a typo, Vivus really is up 180% and it was on my radar a lot.

The last date Vivus released earnings was May 7, and the closing price before earnings was $23.58. Based on Tuesday's closing price of $23, shares are down 2.5%.

The bottom line has falling earnings year-over-year with a loss of $46.14 million last fiscal year compared to an even bigger loss of $66.07 million in the previous year.

With 15% short interest, investors better know what they are doing before picking this one up -- 15% is the sweet spot for short interest as a bearish indicator. I like what they do as a company, but I would avoid the stock as an investment at this level. The earnings release may not have much of an impact either way because of the binary reaction pharmaceuticals have to trial results.

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