Shares of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) jumped to a quick gain this morning. A look to my usual news sources shows little in the way of new information being released by the company. However, a number of sites are pointing to upbeat comments from a certain boisterous TV commentator of "booyah" fame. Given the action, I thought it might be interesting to check out the sentiment profile. What I found was that this is a heavily shorted stock, but one that still has a hurdle to overcome.

As the chart to the right shows, short interest has been creeping higher this year. According to data collected by our Quantified Analysis group, 16% of the stock's float is now sold short. I usually consider any reading above 10% as being relatively high.

Short covering could add buying demand to the equation but a look to the front-month open interest configuration shows there is a small speed bump near the 15 level that needs to be contended with. This is the site of 3000 September calls. While not an insurmountable obstacle, that level does align with the chart resistance.

As the daily chart below shows, the stock flirted with that zone in February and was firmly rejected there in May. The stock is now battling that area again and pushing in on a short-term overbought condition.

I think that the potential for a short-covering rally is there, but I would have to see the stock overtake resistance before getting excited about it. If the stock does penetrate resistance, that zone could then be set as a stop-out point.

Chart Courtesy of Thomson Financial