Chipotle, Morgan Stanley Among the Afternoon’s Big Movers

Page 1 of 2

At a time when the S&P 500 is off by 0.9% and crude futures are in the green, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), Auris Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ:EARS), Harmony Gold Mining Co. (ADR) (NYSE:HMY) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) are among the major volatile stocks today, making big moves, both upwards and downwards. In the following article, we will examine why investors are buying and selling these stocks and also examine the latest hedge fund activity in them.

Let’s first take a step back and analyze how tracking hedge funds can help an everyday investor. Through our research, we discovered that a portfolio of the 15 most popular small-cap picks of hedge funds beat the S&P 500 Total Return Index by nearly a percentage point per month on average between 1999 and 2012. On the other hand the most popular large-cap picks of hedge funds underperformed the same index by seven basis points per month during the same period. This is likely a surprise to many investors, who think of small-caps as risky, unpredictable stocks and put more faith (and money) in large-cap stocks (read the details here). Follow the smart money into only their best investment ideas all while avoiding their high fees.

First up is Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), whose stock has surged by 5.3% after the company’s presentation at the ICR Conference in Florida today, in which the emphasis was placed on winning back consumer confidence and restoring margins. Moreover, the company plans to continue with its restaurant expansion, with 235 openings scheduled for this year.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) lost popularity among the investors that we track in the third quarter. 28 funds held shares of the company on September 30, down by eight funds over the quarter, and they amassed 4.9% of the float. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Chipotle Mexican Grill among those 28, with 479,400 shares valued at $345.3 million at the end of September.

Follow Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG)

Moving on, Auris Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ:EARS) shares are up by 10% today with no notable news concerning the company today. In recent days, analysts at Leerink Swann upped their EPS estimates for the company’s fiscal year 2015. In a research report, the estimate was improved to a loss of $1.06 per share versus the previous forecast of a loss of $1.07.

Among the funds that we follow, three reported long positions in Auris Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ:EARS) as of the end of September, down by two from a quarter earlier. Among those funds from our database that were long the stock was Anand Parekh‘s Alyeska Investment Group, with a stake of 286,924 shares.

On the next page we’ll dig into the golden day for Harmony Gold and the fall of Morgan Stanley.

Page 1 of 2