Hormel Foods hikes fiscal year outlook after a strong Q3

Ettinger added that additional details regarding the fiscal third quarter and the remainder of 2009 would be made available during Hormel's conference call on Thursday, Aug. 20. Previously, the Spam parent forecast a full-year profit of $2.15 to $2.25 per share, while analysts were expecting just $2.29 per share.

Today's outlook-related gains should help HRL tackle resistance in the $36-to-$37 neighborhood. Since January, the stock has climbed higher along support at its 10-week and 20-week moving averages, however, resistance in the aforementioned region has capped the equity's progress since mid-2008.

A short-squeeze rally could potentially help launch the shares above this obstacle. After rising by 5.8% during the most recent reporting period, short interest now accounts for a notable 2.7% of HRL's float. At the stock's average daily volume, it would take about four trading days for all of these bearish bets to be covered.

Fresh bullish attention from analysts could also be a boon for Hormel. The stock's average 12-month price target is $36.57, according to Thomson Reuters, representing just a fractional premium to last Friday's close at $36.12. Any upward revisions to this consensus estimate could potentially attract some new buyers to the table.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.