Shares of BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc (NYSE:BJ) are up 2.3% at $93.39 before the open, after the membership warehouse operator reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year earnings outlook. Adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share topped the $1.17 expected, while revenue of $6.09 billion beat estimates of $5.97 billion. Membership growth helped drive the strong quarter, with the company's member count rising to a record 8.5 million.
Should these gains hold, BJ will snap a three-day losing streak, though familiar pressure at the $95 level, home to the 20-day moving average, still looms above. Heading into today, the equity is up 1.4% year to date.
Short interest could provide additional fuel. The 9.55 million shares sold short account for 7.5% of BJ's available float, representing more than four days' worth of potential buying power. Meanwhile, the stock's Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 20.2 sits firmly in "oversold" territory, suggesting the shares may have been due for a short-term bounce.
