Twitter, Gap and 3 Other Stocks Are Making Headlines Today

It’s a positive day on the Street following a surprisingly impressive jobs report, which showed that a whopping 287,000 jobs were created in June, which represented the biggest monthly increase since last fall. Analysts were expecting around 170,000 new jobs.

Meanwhile, investors are watching a handful of stocks closely today, including Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE:CUDA), Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS), Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), and Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO). Let’s shed some light on the reasons behind these stocks’ movement today and see what the hedge funds in our system think of these companies.

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Barracuda Networks Beats Estimates

Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE:CUDA) is over 16% in the green today following its better-than-expected first quarter earnings report. The California-based networks and cloud services company posted EPS of $0.20, sharply beating the consensus estimate of $0.11. Revenue in the quarter came in at $86.7 million, topping the estimated $83.84 million. The company also announced the appointment of Hatem Naguib and Ezra Hookano as Vice Presidents of the company and of Dustin Driggs to the post of Chief Financial Officer. A statement from Barracuda said that the management change will drive its security business and strengthen its leadership team.

Out of the 766 active funds in our database, 11 of them were bullish on Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE:CUDA) at the end of the first quarter. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management owned 147,135 shares of the company at that time.

Gap’s Net Sales Rise

Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) has surged by nearly 5% in morning trading after the company announced that its net sales for the five-week period ended July 2 jumped by 2% from the same period of last year, to $1.57 billion. This is the first sales increase experienced by Gap in more than a year. In a statement, Gap’s CFO said that sales were partly driven by improvement in traffic trends in June, especially at Old Navy.

Edward Lampert’s ESL Investments was one of the 23 funds in our system that were bullish on Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) as of the end of the first quarter. It held approximately 3.25 million shares of the company.

Head to the next page to see why Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Twitter and Juno Therapeutics are making headlines today. 

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Continues to Rise After Debt Offering

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) has witnessed its gains of Thursday extend into Friday, following the company raising approximately $7.5 billion in a reopened debt offering. Proceeds from the offering will be used to refinance existing debt which have shorter durations and for operating purposes. Petroleo Brasileiro also revealed this morning that it had raised $3 billion through the reopening of an overseas bond issuance to finance a new buyback program of certain outstanding notes. Petroleo’s shares have gained over 4% this morning.

Among the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 23 firms were shareholders of Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) at the end of the first quarter. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owned more than 10.5 million shares of the company at that time.

Twitter in Talks For Digital Content Streaming Rights

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s stock has climbed more than 2% in the green on Friday following a report from Re/code which claimed that the social media giant is in talks with the NBA, Major League Soccer and cable network Turner to acquire rights to stream live sports and other events. The source added that the content which Twitter wants to stream could include live streams of matches or pre- and post-game analysis and interviews. Twitter’s interest in Turner is mainly due to the cable company already enjoying the rights to several major sports leagues including the NBA, MLB, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. A total of 27 funds in our database were long Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) as of the end of March, down from 30 hedge funds a quarter earlier.

FDA Puts Hold on Juno Therapeutics’ Cancer Drug Trial

Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO) is not enjoying the same green day as the other stocks covered in this article, as its shares have nosedived by more than 29% after the company announced that it had received a notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that a ‘clinical hold’ has been put on its Phase 2 trial of JCAR15, a drug to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The hold was enforced after two patients who were part of the trial died last week. At the end of the first quarter, 14 hedge funds in our database were long Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO), down from 17 hedge funds a quarter earlier.

Disclosure: None