We have seen this setup before in ANET. I can't explain all my setups in advance as the stock market is an ever-changing environment, but I do get into details when those setups show up. The way this setup works is - you will see a run up before earnings. Don't ask me why it happens (insider trading? news leaks?). I don't know and I don't care. The bottom-line is that it does happen a lot. When you see a nice pre-earnings run up and you are scratching your head, you can almost rest assured that it will be followed by post-earnings profit taking even if the earnings report were great (Unless it is TSLA which defies all logic and rational thinking). We saw a similar pattern on HD. Instead of figuring out why it is happening, our job is to find out when to get in to a trade in these situations. You will see that I got into a trade based on simple support/resistance. 

Due to the massive 14% correction in September, this position was a full loser. See the note on bailout trades.