Whoa! These 3 Stocks Easily Beat the Dow: Vical Incorporated (VICL), Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND), Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMY)

Following the resignation of the company’s CEO in late December, a blogger charged, in early January, that the VoIP company had misstated its earnings in an attempt to boost profits ahead of a secondary offering.  The company rebutted the allegations, calling them “clear and utter lies,”  but they’re still hanging out over the company’s operations and, even after yesterday’s bounce, the stock is still down 23% for 2013.

With shares up another 4% so far today, we’ll see just how long it takes for short sellers to hang up their positions.

That’s just nutty
Rounding out our trio of companies moving higher for no discernable reason was troubled nut grower Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND), which recently emerged from a months-long investigation into improper payments made to farmers. This resulted in the company needing to restate its financials. Last month, the investment house BlackRock figured it had put its unsavory past behind it, and took a large 8% stake in Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) as a vote of confidence. Good timing, because shares have since gained nearly 25%.

While it does have a large short interest at seven days to cover, that’s down from 17 days at the end of January, as the average daily volume traded in the stock has more than doubled.

With gains that are made on nothing more than ephemeral market feelings, it’s hard know if they’ll hold for any appreciable length of time. While Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) has something substantial to hang its hat on eventually, that decision date is still some time in the future. I see all three stocks eventually retracing their gains until they’re able to show something concrete upon which they can build.

The article Whoa! These 3 Stocks Easily Beat the Dow originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Duprey.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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