Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are Surging Today

It’s been a pretty good day on Wall Street so far as the Dow Jones Index is up almost 100 points and all three major indexes are in the green. The S&P 500 is near all-time highs and the NASDAQ is once again nearing the 5,000 mark. Among the stocks greener than most this morning are Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL), Vascular Biogenics Ltd (NASDAQ:VBLT), Oncothyreon Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:ONTY), Command Security Corporation (NYSEMKT:MOC), and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT). Let’s dive into the stocks and see how elite funds are positioned towards them.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

Exelixis Rallies on Presentation

At an ASCO 2016 presentation, Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) disclosed bullish results of a phase 3 trial that assessed the company’s product candidate for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, CABOMETYX. In the trial named METEOR, the patients who took the drug who had previous anti-angiogenic therapy showed around a 30% increase in median overall survival versus the current drug on the market, everolimus. The five-year survival rate of people with advanced kidney cancer is 12% and there is strong demand for new treatment options. Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) has rallied 6.5% on the news and was held by 17 top funds at the end of March.

Vascular Biogenics Surges on Positive Results of Early Stage Trial

Nano-cap Vascular Biogenics Ltd (NASDAQ:VBLT) is 60% higher after the company presented bullish data at ASCO 2016. In a phase 1/2 trial, VB-111, the company’s candidate for the treatment of patients with recurrent platinum resistant ovarian cancer, showed a statistically significant increase in the overall survival rate at the therapeutic vs low dose level. The overall survival rate was 810 days for the therapeutic level versus 172 days for the low-dose level. In addition, there was a 60% durable response rate as measured by the reduction in CA-125, which is around twice the historical response with Avastin plus chemotherapy. Two funds owned $972,000 of Vascular Biogenics Ltd (NASDAQ:VBLT) and accounted for 1.20% of the float on March 31.

On the next page, we examine Oncothyreon, Command Security Corporation, and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Oncothyreon Presents at ASCO

Oncothyreon Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:ONTY) is almost 10% in the green after presenting phase 1b results of ONT-380 in combination with T-DM1 at the conference. ONT-380 in combination with T-DM1 is intended for the potential treatment of HER2+ metastatic breast cancer. According to the company’s press release, data from a poster presentation reflected promising efficacy and safety results in the study, where the median progression-free survival time was 8.2 months and an overall response rate was 47%. The majority of adverse events were grade 1. Of the 766 elite funds in our database, 10 funds held shares of Oncothyreon Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:ONTY) at the end of March, down three from the previous quarter.

Command Security Wins a Contract

Nano-cap Command Security Corporation (NYSEMKT:MOC) is 61% higher in the morning after the company announced that it, along with several other companies, will be, ‘eligible to be awarded passenger and baggage screening contracts at any of the over 435 airports that are chosen or elect to utilize private screening companies’. Over 80 teams put up bids, and 15 were selected to perform under the solicitation. If things work out, Command Security Corporation (NYSEMKT:MOC)’s revenue could potentially increase.

Technical Buying Detected At Potash Corporation

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) is 4.4% higher as technical buyers snap up shares. Seeing as shares recently closed above several key moving averages, some technical traders are likely buying now for momentum purposes. Value investors could also be buying in anticipation of potentially higher potash prices due to the weaker dollar and hopefully stronger emerging market economies. Of the 766 elite funds we track, 23 funds owned $793.78 million of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) and accounted for 5.60% of the float on March 31, versus 26 funds and $768.29 million respectively on December 31.

Disclosure: none