Analyst Update: Burlington Stores Inc, Genesco Inc, and LendingClub Corp

U.S. stocks have given up their early lead, as election anxiety continues to linger. Among stocks in focus, analysts are weighing in on retailers Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL) and Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO), as well as financial stock LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on BURL, GCO, and LC.

• BURL is trading down 3.8% at $69.89, after brokerage firm Spruce Point Capital Management issued a "strong sell" recommendation for the discount retailer, citing "aggressive" accounting tactics and an "unoptimized" brick-and-mortar presence. BURL is still up nearly 63% so far this year, although the shares have given up 20% since touching an all-time high of $87.23 in mid-September. While 10 out of 12 analysts maintain "buy" or better ratings on Burlington Stores Inc, short interest rose 10.5% during the past two reporting periods. These bearish bets now represent more than a week's worth of trading, at BURL's average pace of trading.

• GCO is 1% higher at $53.85, after Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating, raised its price target to $62 from $57, and lifted its fiscal-2017 earnings estimates. The analysts cited last night's World Series win for the Chicago Cubs as a catalyst for increased Lids' Group sales through the holidays. GCO has been attempting a slow recovery since a post-earnings bear gap in September, where the shares plummeted 32.8% in a single session, landing at a five-year low of $47.66. A number of short sellers could be jittery after this optimistic analyst note. Genesco Inc's short interest is up 66.5% over the last two reporting periods, and it would now take traders over six days to cover all of these shorted shares, at GCO's average daily volume.

• LC is enjoying a lift after an upgrade to "overweight" from "equal weight" at Morgan Stanley, with the shares 6.4% higher at $5.12. Morgan Stanley cited 7 reasons to be positive, such as new management hires, pricing flexibility, and an attractive risk/reward ratio, and issued a price target of $7 -- territory not charted since an early May bear gap. With LendingClub Corp set to deliver another round of earnings on Monday, there are some option bears likely hoping the Morgan Stanley optimism is unwarranted, with LC's 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sitting at 1.92 -- just 8 percentage points from an annual high.