Small Companies, Big Declines: Why These Stocks Tumbled Today

MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET), yet another micro-cap, is down by about 17.8% this afternoon. The fall was probably triggered by the reported sale of about 210,000 shares of the company by Director John Abbott, at prices between $4.00 and $4.12 per share.

Same as in the cases cited above, it seems like MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET) is not very well-liked in the hedge fund world (at least among those that we care about). Over the third quarter of 2015, the number of funds long the stock fell by more than 42% to four. Interestingly, these four firms did own more than 14% of the company’s total shares. In fact, Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies alone holds 4.6 million shares of the company, or more than 10% of its outstanding stock.

Finally, there’s Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO), the only small-cap in this list, which has lost about 15% in Wednesday trading. The stock has been plummeting consistently this year, having lost almost 40% in 2016, losing much of the ground gained (76%) in 2015. On top of the overall negative biotech sector sentiment, a few other pieces of news might also be responsible for some of the losses. Among these, we can count the entry into a $150 million non-dilutive royalty-backed credit agreement and the release of a disappointing business update at JPMorgan’s 34th Annual Healthcare Conference on Monday.

But, unlike the other companies in this list, hedge funds were becoming increasingly bullish on Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) during 2015. Over the third quarter, hedge fund interest (among the funds in our system) rose by 20%. As of September 30, 24 funds in our database held long stakes in the company; Iridian Asset Management owning the largest. The fund, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, declared ownership of 8.18 million shares worth about $109 million as of the end of that quarter.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.