Why Did Big Lots Gain 12% Today? Short-CoveringWe were pleasantly surprised to see shares of Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) up 12% but could not understand why until we saw the short interest. The stock has been in a downtrend for some time driven by dwindling analysts’ sentiment, fear of slowing sales, and an ever-growing short interest that reached lofty levels above 25% in the weeks ahead of the Q2 report. With the report still due out and the analysts still downgrading the stock, the only thing left to drive it higher is short covering and that makes us think this downtrend is over. The analysts have…