5 Stocks Set to Soar on Bullish Earnings

Pandora Media

Another potential earnings short-squeeze play is Internet radio player Pandora Media (P), which is set to release its numbers on Wednesday after the market close. The company's service enables its listeners to create up to 100 personalized stations. Pandora generates revenue from advertising and also offers a subscription service to listeners. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect the comapny to report revenue of $100.94 million on a loss of 3 cents per share.

Wedbush Securities recently said it's maintaining its outperform rating on Pandora Media and its 12-month price target of $14. The firm said it expects Pandora Media's second-quarter results to come in above the high end of guidance, and it expects management to raise fiscal-year 2013 guidance.

>>3 Internet Stocks Ready to Move Higher

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Pandora Media is extremely high at 28.2%. That means that out of the 96.22 million shares in the tradable float, 28.88 million shares are sold short by the bears. The bears have also been increasing their bets from the last reporting period by 12.6%, or by about 3.22 million shares. If the bears are caught leaning too hard into this quarter, then we could easily see a monster short-squeeze develop post-earnings.

From a technical perspective, P is currently trading below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock has been trading range bound for the past two months, with shares trending between $9 on the downside and $11.24 on the upside. A move outside of that range post-earnings will likely setup the next major trend for P.

If you're in the bull camp on P, then I would wait until after they report earnings and look for long-biased trades if this stock triggers a break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $10.17 to $11.24 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that registers near or above its three-month average volume of 3 million shares. If we get that action, then P will have a great chance of re-testing and possibly taking out its next major overhead resistance levels at $12.11 to $12.30 a share post-earnings.

I would simply avoid P or look for short-biased trades if after earnings this stock fails to trigger that breakout, and then takes out some key near-term support levels at $9.17 to $9 a share with heavy volume. If we get that move, then P will likely re-test and possibly take out its next major support levels at $8.50 to $7.83 a share. Keep in mind that any high-volume move below $7.83 will be very bearish since it will push P into all-time low territory.

For another take on Pandora, it shows up on a list of 5 Volatile Stocks to Buy More Of.

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