BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BCRX 11.13% shares are up 10.5 percent on Friday following an upgrade by JMP Securities from Market Perform to Market Outperform. A closer look at the numbers for the biotechnology stock suggests a short squeeze may be playing a role in the sizable move.

According to shortsqueeze.com, BioCryst currently has a relatively high short percent of float of 16.5 percent. BioCryst has more than 7.6 million shares held short with 14.9 days to cover.

Back in February, BioCryst stock plummeted nearly 70 percent in a single day when the company reported disappointing trial results for avoralstat in treatment of angioedema attacks. The company reported that a treatment called OPuS-2 did not produce statistically significant results compared to a placebo.

Not surprisingly, short interest in BioCryst peaked shortly thereafter at around 25 percent. BioCryst shares…

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