Does Andrew Left Trigger A 'Citron Squeeze' When He Appears On TV?

Citron Research executive editor Andrew Left appeared on CNBC on Wednesday to discuss his short position in Facebook Inc FB.

"I am not saying Facebook is a bad company (it) just will not be a $330 billion company in a year," Left argued.

Left gained a lot of notoriety for his short call on Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX last year.

After initially rising following Left’s appearance, Facebook shares are now down 0.6 percent in a weak market this week.

Related Link: Valeant Isn't A Short-Term Fix

Benzinga took a look back as how the market has reacted in the month following some of Left’s most memorable TV appearances in recent months:

5/17/2016-Bullish on Valeant: Left told CNBC, “I bought some [Valeant] stock; I also protected myself and bought some out-of-the-money puts.”

One-month return: -22.2 percent

3/15/2016-Bearish on Mallinckrodt PLC MNK: Left compared Mallinckrodt to Valeant on CNBC, saying, “I think Mallickrodt is worse because they are dependent on one drug, closer to let’s say 50 percent of their EBITDA, depends on what metric you want to look at.”

One-month return: -0.6 percent

3/2/2016-Bearish on Tesla Motors Inc TSLA: Left told CNBC, “I thought that it would be a great time, around the $185-190 range to go ahead and re-establish a short position in Tesla.”

One-month return: +26.1 percent

11/10/2015-Bearish on Mallinckrodt: Left discussed Mallickrodt on CNBC and said, “Mallinckrodt is not Valeant, it is worse.”

One-month return: +13.8 percent

11/2/2015-Bearish on Valeant: Valeant is certainly Left’s most notorious call. Back in November, he told CNBC that he saw Valeant’s attempts to manipulate third-party financials as “Enron-esque.”

One-month return: -4.2 percent

As you can see, Left hit a huge home run in the long-term with his Valeant call. However, when Left has talked on TV lately, his trading ideas have tended to move in the other direction.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.