5 Hated Earnings Stocks Poised to Pop

Vistaprint

Another earnings short-squeeze play is online customized marketing products and services player Vistaprint (VPRT), which is set to release numbers on Thursday after the market close. Wall Street analysts, on average, expect Vistaprint to report revenue of $341.53 million on earnings of 75 cents per share.

During the last quarter, this company beat Wall Street estimates by 3 cents, after it reported a net income of one cent per share versus Wall Street estimates of a net loss of 2 cents per share. That marked the fourth straight quarter in a row where Vistaprint topped Wall Street estimates. This company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 23.2% over the last four quarters.

The current short interest as a percentage of the float for Vistaprint is extremely high at 28.1%. That means that out of the 23.71 million shares in the tradable float, 8.56 million shares are sold short by the bears. This is a low float high short interest situation, so any bullish earnings news could easily spark a monster short-squeeze for VPRT post-earnings.

From a technical perspective, VPRT is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last three months, with shares soaring from its low of $28.17 a share to its recent high of $37.86 a share. During that uptrend, shares of VPRT have been mostly making higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. That move has now pushed shares of VPRT within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade post-earnings.

If you're bullish on VPRT, then I would wait until after its report and look for long-biased trades if this stock manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $37.86 to $38.60 a share with high volume. Look for volume on that move that hits near or above its three-month average action of 293,383 shares. If that breakout triggers, then VPRT will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $43 to $43.42 a share.

I would avoid VPRT or look for short-biased trades if after earnings it fails to trigger that breakout, and then drops back below its 200-day moving average of $34.55 a share and then below some key near-term support at $34 a share with high volume. If we get that move, then VPRT will set up to re-test or possibly take out its 50-day moving average of $33.03 a share. Any high-volume move below its 50-day will then put $31.08 into focus for shares of VPRT.

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