Friday's Big Gainers With High Short Interest

After the Dow Jones' big uptick Thursday, in which it advanced 421 points, the index is trading on the green side.

Among the list of top gainers for Friday are some potential traps in which investors have exhibited high short interest.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. OREX

The entrant on this list had 39.9 percent of its float shorted as of November 28. The developer of drug treatments and related disorders saw a surge in its stock price Friday, recently up 3.5 percent at $6.51.

Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. ANR

The supplier and exporter of coal for steel-making process, electric utilities and manufacturing industries has an Underperform rating from Bank of America. That coupled with 33.7 short interest in the stock as of late November didn't stop the stock from advancing 7.4 percent Friday in early hours of trading. Shares were last up 2.3 percent at $1.57.

Sanchez Energy Corp SN

This developer of unconventional oil and natural gas resources in the onshore United States Gulf Coast also paid no heed to the analyst downgrades or the 24.4 percent short interest; It climbed nearly 8.6 percent in the early trading Friday, last up 1.5 percent at $9.40.