Here’s Why SCYNEXIS Inc. (SCYX), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Three Other Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

The US stock market is trading lower amid marginal decline in crude oil prices and ahead of the Friday jobs data.

Meanwhile, a number of stocks are showing  SCYNEXIS Inc. (NASDAQ:SCYX), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Metlife Inc. (NYSE:MET), Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) and Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB). Lets take a look at the news behind these stocks and assess the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

The smart money sentiment is an important metric that can be used to assess the long-term profitability of a stock. While there are thousands of stocks trading daily on the market, taking a look at what hedge funds think about certain companies can narrow down the search significantly. At Insider Monkey, we track more than 700 hedge funds, whose 13F filings we analyze as part of our small-cap strategy. Our research has shown that imitating a portfolio that includes the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds can outperform the market by as much as 95 basis points per month on average (see more details here).

SCYNEXIS Inc. (NASDAQ:SCYX) surged by 30% in pre-market session, but has given the majority of those gains since the opening bells on the news of its Oral SCY-078 drug testing for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC). For the drug’s Phase 2 studies, the company reported that one of the studies revealed significantly better clinical cure rates for the drug. It also showed lower rate of recurrence of VVC at the four-month follow-up. The second study tested the drug as a step-down therapy in patients with invasive candidiasis. In this test, the drug reached the target exposure for efficacy. Among the funds we track, 12 funds held $15.34 million worth of SCYNEXIS’s stock in aggregate at the end of June, having amassed 51.10% of its outstanding stock, compared to eight investors that held $13.35 million worth of shares a quarter earlier.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock is in the spotlight amid news that the tech giant is boosting its profile in cloud segment. Cloud business is increasingly becoming highly competitive with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google vying for the market share. According to Bloomberg, Apple is looking to unify its various cloud-related services such as Apple Pay, Siri and Maps at its Infinite Loop campus. The number of funds from our long Apple declined to 116 from 152 during the second quarter, while the total value of their holdings decreased to $10.67 billion from $14.82 billion.

On the next page, we are going to discuss the developments surrounding Metlife Inc. (NYSE:MET), Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC), and Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB).

Metlife Inc. (NYSE:MET) stock inched up by 2% following news of the impending spin-off of its life insurance operations. The company is looking to downsize for  strategic and regulatory reasons. The separation will involve about a fifth of the company’s overall business. The new company will be known as Brighthouse Financial, will trade separately under the ticker “BHF”. Around 80.1% of the unit’s common stock, will be distributed to existing shareholders of Metlife Inc. (NYSE:MET). However, Metlife is still considering a sale of the division or its IPO. A total of 45 funds from our database have positions in Metlife worth $1.40 billion in aggregate as of the end of June.

Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ:SMTC) stock is in spotlight as it lowered its fiscal 2017 third-quarter revenue outlook after it had signed a network deal with Comcast. The company now expects its third-quarter earnings to be in the  range of $0.43 to $0.47 per share, down from previous estimate of $0.49 to $0.53 and quarterly revenue is expected between $130 million to $138 million. Its previous revenue estimate was in the range of $134 million to $142 million. Lower outlook comes on the back of Semtech issuing a warrant, which grants Comcast the right to acquire some 1.09 million shares of Semtech. The deal involves a trial deployment of a low-power wide-area network in the US, which uses Semtech’s LoRa Wireless Radio Frequency Technology. The trial is expected to be launched by Comcast in the fourth quarter of 2016 in Philadelphia and San Francisco. A total of 13 investors we track own about $62 million worth of Semtech Corporation stock as of the end of June, compared to 15 funds with $60 million worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Even though, Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) still hasn’t completed its settlement with the DoJ, the bank can put at least some other problems behind it. A report from Reuters has suggested that BaFin, German financial market regulator, may not pursue its inquiry into Russian money laundering scandal involving Deutsche Bank. A total of 15 investors from our database reported stakes in Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) worth $48 million in aggregate at the end of June, compared to 10 funds holding $23.97 million in shares a quarter earlier.

Disclosure: none