Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

The S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ have inched down since the opening bell on Friday. Among the stocks making some noise are Avianca Holdings SA (ADR) (NYSE:AVH), DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB), Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS), and Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO). Let’s take a closer look at the events that put each stock  in the spotlight and analyze how hedge funds are positioned in each stock.

We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see the details here).

Potential Airline Suitors For Avianca Holdings

Avianca Holdings SA (ADR) (NYSE:AVH) is 16% higher after the Wall Street Journal published a column stating that multiple airlines including Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL), and United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) might be potential bidders for Avianca. Avianca Holdings SA (ADR) (NYSE:AVH) is one of the largest airlines in Latin America and offers substantial long term growth prospects for suitors. The process is in early talks, and there might not be any deal at all. Of the 766 elite funds in our database, only three held shares of the stock at the end of the first quarter.

DISH Expands Sling TV

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH)‘s online Sling TV product is about to get better after DISH struck a deal to expand its South Asian channel content in the United States. After having struck a deal with Asia TV USA or ‘Zee’, Sling TV will now have 27 more Zee channels in addition to the 10 channels already on the online offering. Cord cutting is a major trend, and DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) could be a beneficiary if its Sling TV garners more traction. A total of 51 funds from our database amassed $2.51 billion worth of DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) shares, which accounted for 11.70% of the float on March 31.

On the next page, we examine Tribune Publishing, Gap, and Broadcom.
Tribune Publishing Co Rebrands Itself

Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB) is trying to become more hip by rebranding itself. On June 20, Tribune Publishing will officially change its name to tronc, Inc. The official description of tronc will be: “a content curation and monetization company focused on creating and distributing premium, verified content across all channels”. In addition, Tribune will transfer its stock exchange listing to NASDAQ from NYSE, under a new ticker symbol, ‘TRNC’. Billionaire Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies owned more than 40,000 shares of Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB) at the end of the first quarter.

Gap Reports May Sales Numbers

Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) shares have gained over 4% so far today, after the retailer reported that its sales fell 5% year-over-year in May, beating expectations of a decline of 8.5%. Comparable store sales inched down by 6% year-over-year, with Banana Republic Global leading the way with a drop of 11%.  The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey with holdings in Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) rose by six to 23 during the first three months of 2016.

Broadcom Soars On Earnings Beat

Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s stock has advanced by around 5% after the company reported fiscal second quarter earnings of $2.53 per share on revenue of $3.56 billion, beating the estimates by $0.15 and $10 million, respectively. Adjusted gross margin was 60%, while adjusted operating expenses amounted to $809 million. Guidance is on target with management expecting a revenue midpoint of $3.75 billion for the fiscal third quarter, versus the $3.71 billion projected by analysts. The gross margin for the third quarter is expected to be between 59% and 61%. Overall, 68 top funds followed by us own shares of Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO), according to the latest round of 13F filings.

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