Friday’s Market Movers & Shakers: BP, Gevo, Orbotech, More

BP in the Red

BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) shares have retreated by almost 2% today on the back of lower Brent crude prices, which are down by 2.3% in afternoon trading. The near month Brent futures contract fell by $1.22 from yesterday’s close to trade at $50.73 per barrel due to the stronger dollar and fears of a Brexit. Lower Brent prices mean lower EBITDA for BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP). BP is also in the news today after the company formed a new joint venture in Norway by combining its Norwegian operations with local company Det norske. BP will own 30% of the combined company and is entitled to $140 million in cash. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management was long almost 1.00 million BP shares as of the most recent 13F reporting period.

Technical Rally Continues for Shares of Emerge Energy

Momentum traders can’t get enough of Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) today, as shares of the company have surged by another 18% to trade above $11 per share. Some traders speculate Emerge’s recent rally is due to a Goldman Sachs note earlier in the week stating that Emerge’s fuels business could fetch $50 million or more. The note also estimated that Emerge Energy has a peak distributable cash flow of $1.53 per unit. At current crude prices, however, peak estimates are just speculation at this point, and it seems that a short squeeze plus technical momentum buying could be playing a larger role behind the price action. No elite funds in our database owned shares of Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) at the end of March.

Technical Buying Detected at Nano-cap

Nano-cap New Concept Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:GBR) is 55% higher in the afternoon session due to technical buying. Shares of the company have almost tripled over the last three days on no fundamental news. Given the stock’s super-small float, and the short percentage likely associated with it, forced short-covering could also have something to do with the rally. New Concept Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:GBR) wasn’t in the portfolios of any of the funds monitored by Insider Monkey at the end of the first quarter. As with all nano-caps, investors should exercise due-diligence before considering a purchase.

Disclosure: None