Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are on the Move on Wednesday

The latest crude inventory numbers are in, and according to the EIA, crude inventories fell 2.3 million barrels in the previous week. Not surprisingly, crude futures have ripped higher by around 1% to $45.88 per barrel, and all three indexes are also higher in afternoon trade.

In this article, we take a closer look at five stocks that are on the move, Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU), Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO), Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS), First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG), and Endeavour Silver Corp (NYSE:EXK), and we find out what the smart money thinks of each stock.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 770 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

Momentum Traders Going to Momo  

Everybody’s favorite momentum stock, Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU) is up by 35% today on no fundamental news. Given the small float (with just 2.21 million shares available to be traded), and the stock’s recent price action (rising substantially from the beginning of July), some technical traders are no doubt buying based on momentum rather than the fundamentals. As we wrote about earlier, Skypeople recently made a statement that online reports from the Chinese website EGD1319.com that Future World Group had successfully gained a listing on NASDAQ by acquiring SkyPeople is inaccurate. For those interested, this link contains the actual details related to Future World. None of the funds that we track owned shares of Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU) at the end of March. As with all nano-caps, traders should do due-diligence before buying or selling.

Medidata Soars on Earnings

Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO)’s shares have surged by almost 13% after the company reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter. For the time period, Medidata earned $0.24 per share on revenue of $114.61 million, beating by $0.01 per share and $2.22 million, respectively. Sales rose by 10% sequentially and by 17% year-over-year, led by strong subscription revenue growth. Management reiterated full 2016 total revenue guidance of between $450 and $474 million and adjusted no-GAAP net income of between $54.5 million and $59 million. Among the investors in our database, eight funds owned $36.56 million worth of Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO) shares, which accounted for 1.70% of the float on March 31, versus 13 funds and $75.33 million, respectively, a quarter earlier.

On the next page, we examine why Cintas Corporation, First Majestic Silver Corp, and Endeavour Silver Corp are on the move.
Cintas Beats Estimates, Shares Surge

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) delivered a top and bottom line beat for its fiscal fourth quarter, with EPS of $1.08 on revenue of $1.27 billion. The results beat estimates by $0.08 per share and $20 million, respectively, and, not surprisingly, shares of the uniform company are up by 10.4% in afternoon trading. In addition to better-than-expected earnings, Cintas also issued better-than-expected guidance. Management sees fiscal year 2017 EPS coming in at $4.35 to $4.45 on revenues of $5.15 billion to $5.225 billion, versus analyst estimates of $4.30 per share on revenues of $5.17 billion. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management was one of the 27 funds from our database that held shares of Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) at the end of March.

Silver Miners Retreat

Shares of silver miners First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) and Endeavour Silver Corp (NYSE:EXK) are down by around 7% and 8% respectively on the back of lower silver commodity prices. According to FINVIZ, the near month silver futures contract price has fallen 2.11% to $19.59 in afternoon trading. Lower silver prices generally mean less potential growth and revenue for silver miners. Although many traders remain concerned about slower Chinese growth, the potential for a global recession, and the consequences of the Brexit, the U.S. economy is strong and the major indexes (aside from the NASDAQ) are at or near all time highs. Silver could rally, but it could also stay where it is or even retreat. Seven investors had a bullish position in First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) at the end of the first quarter, up by one over the quarter. Meanwhile, the number of funds tracked by us with holdings in Endeavour Silver Corp (NYSE:EXK) rose by two quarter-over-quarter to six at the end of March.

Disclosure: None