Here’s Why Tesla, SolarCity, Netflix, and Two Other Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

It’s a good day to be a bull on Wall Street as all three major indexes are considerably higher. The Dow is up by over 140 points, the NASDAQ is 0.88% in the green and the S&P has inched up 0.7%.

Among the stocks that are capturing traders’ attention today are several technology companies and one gold miner. Let’s take a closer look at Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG), Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and see what the smart money investors from our database think about them.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track over 740 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Car, Model S, Sign, Showroom, Brand, Logo, automotive, sales

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) shares are both well in the green today after Elon Musk tweeted: ‘Tesla product unveiling on the 17th (unexpected by most), followed by Tesla/SolarCity on the 28th”. In another tweet, Musk also said: ‘Would also like to correct expectations that Tesla/SolarCity will need to raise equity or corp debt in Q4. Won’t be necessary for either”. That’s good news for short-term bulls as it means less supply in their timelines. However, it is uncertain whether Tesla can achieve its ambitious production targets and acquire SolarCity without needing another capital raise in the long term. Among the funds that we track, 36 were long Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and 26 held shares of SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) at the end of June.

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Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG) is in the green today after the company announced that it had resumed operations at its Peñasquito mine following the removal of an illegal blockade which started in late September. Due to the resumption of operations at the mine, Goldcorp expects to meet its production and cost guidance for full year 2016 of 2.8-3.1 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of $850-$925 per ounce. A total of 28 funds from our database had a bullish position in Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG) at the end of June, down by five funds from the previous quarter.

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On the next page, we examine why Autodesk and Netflix are in the spotlight. 

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) is trending after Barron’s urged its readers to consider taking some profits on the name. In the article entitled “After Surge in Stock, It’s Time to Take Gains on the New Autodesk”, author Alexander Eule argues that the company’s switch to a more sustainable subscription business model has already been priced into the shares (given the stock’s 53% rally since last September). Eule also thinks Autodesk stock could have some downside if the global economy enters into a recession. Eule considers there are better ways to play the secular rise of subscription models/cloud such as by buying Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). The number of funds from our database with holdings in Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) fell by two quarter-over-quarter to 35 at the end of June.

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Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is in the red today after Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on the stock with a ‘Sell’ rating and set a $90 price target on the internet streamer’s stock. Analyst Bryan Kraft thinks that Netflix is unlikely to be acquired and that the risk/reward at current levels isn’t very attractive given that the market is pricing in a somewhat ‘optimistic case’ which might not pan out as competition from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and others continue. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global cut its stake inNetflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by 22% to just under 6.3 million shares during the second quarter.

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Disclosure: none