A few days ago a short seller made an appearance on TV and compared the price action in Nvidia (NVDA – Free Report) to a casino. Right now, the stock is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but it trades 25M shares a day which, by dollar volume, makes it one of the most active stocks in the market.

There were a few catalysts that brought the short seller into the name, so let’s review what prompted the stock to soar, what the short talked about and what has transpired in the few days after the report. Finally, we will take a look at what the Zacks Rank is telling us about the stock.

The Run Up

Nvidia was on a solid run, moving higher in price in most sessions following the May 9 earnings report. The company beat earnings estimates by $0.04 and topped sales expectations by ~$200M. Datacenters saw the biggest growth, while gaming was far and away the highest dollar generator for the company. Management also guided sales higher, making that the seventh consecutive quarter of higher revenue guidance.

The stock surged more than $18 in the session following the report and closed up 18%. That still wasn’t the biggest move in recent history with shares of NVDA advancing 25% following the October 2016 report on November 10, 2016.

The Big Jolt

On June 8, Citigroup started the ball rolling and increased their target price from $145 to $180. Argus followed suit the next day, bumping their target to $175 from $140 and Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch jacked their number to $185 from $155.

Those big price target increases sent the shorts running for cover and the algos and day traders pounded them on the way out. The stock was moving by leaps and bounds on a nearly daily basis, so maybe it was a casino style stock.

Selling It Short

Andrew Left of Citron Research is known for finding companies that are a fraud or a scam, but here and there the firm makes a bold call on valuation. That appears to be just what happened on this instance, as the head of the firm stated that it is a “wonderful company” and not a fraud on television.