Energy and Tech: Here’s Why Traders Are Buzzing about These Five Stocks Today

All three indexes have opened relatively flat this morning as traders brace for the major events this month, the FOMC meeting and the informal Russia/OPEC meeting.

Among the stocks grabbing trader’s attention include iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG), and Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL). Let’s find out why each stock is on traders’ radars and see what the funds from our database think about them.

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iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) shares are 2.3% in the green today after Needham raised its price target on the stock to $46 from $42. The Needham analyst, James Ricchiuti, is more optimistic about the company’s future after meeting with iRobot’s top executives. In particular, Ricchiuti thinks that there are many ways the Roomba manufacturer can deliver earnings surprises in its consumer segment. Needless to say, the analyst has a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock. Shares of iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) are near a 52-week high and have rallied by over 11% year-to-date. Willem Mesdag‘s Red Mountain Capital owned more than 1 million shares of iRobot Corporation at the end of June, down by 43% on the quarter.

Two companies that normally wouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are making waves today after the two agreed to agreed to collaborate on creating a wearable health device to monitor patients’ conditions with Huntington’s disease. Although there are no FDA-approved drugs that can treat the fatal disease (Huntington’s causes nerve cells to progressively break down in the brain and leads to a decline in mental stability, motor control, and cognition), there are some approved medications that can treat some of the symptoms. Teva and Intel will deploy existing technology, such as smartphones, as well as tailor new technology such as smartwatches with special sensors and a cloud platform to processes the information, to better monitor the patients. Wearable health technology will be a growing market for both companies over the next two decades as baby boomers continue to age. Of the around 750 elite funds that we track, 55 were long Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) and 57 funds had a bullish position in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) at the end of June.

On the next page, we find out why Transocean and Seadrill are trending.

Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) and Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) are in the headlines after Bloomberg published a gloomy article on the offshore drilling industry. Although Seadrill and Transocean see utilization rates bottoming by the the middle of 2017, Bloomberg’s Mikael Holter, noted that the utilization rates for those companies “could be stuck there for a long time”. In addition, rig rates might not rebound as quickly as crude prices. Senior consultant at IHS Tom Kellock was quoted as saying: “rates are going to come back more slowly than oil prices because of the overhang and the degree of competition and the oversupply of rigs, which is not at this stage being tackled”. Various analysts think that the utilization rate needs to reach 70-85% in order for rates to start moving up again. For the utilization rate to increase meaningfully, Transocean estimates that the number of working rigs needs to fall to 120 from 160 currently operating. Both stocks are moderately in the red this morning. According to our data, hedge funds weren’t that impressed with Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL), as only 17 funds held shares in the offshore driller at the end of June. Comparatively, almost double the number, 32 investors from our database had a stake in Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) in the same time period.

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