Why Are Investors Bidding Up These Five Stocks Today?

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), Inventergy Global Inc (NASDAQ:INVT), FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), Triumph Group Inc (NYSE:TGI), and Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ:RWLK) are hot today as investors bid up each stock on the back of different developments. Let’s take a closer look at the events that have sent these stocks higher.

In addition, let’s analyze hedge fund sentiment towards some of these stocks, if relevant. But why do we track hedge fund activity? From one point of view we can argue that hedge funds are consistently underperforming when it comes to net returns over the last three years, when compared to the S&P 500. But that doesn’t mean that we should completely neglect their activity. There are various reasons behind the low hedge fund returns. Our research indicated that hedge funds’ long positions actually beat the market. In our back-tests covering the 1999-2012 period hedge funds’ top small-cap stocks edged the S&P 500 index by double digits annually. The 15 most popular small-cap stock picks among hedge funds also bested passive index funds by around 53 percentage points over the 36 month period beginning from September 2012 (see the details here).

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) rallied as much as 2% before retracing slightly as long term investors snap up the semi-conductor giant in hopes that management will execute a turnaround or that potential M&A can revive the stock. 2015 hasn’t been a good year for Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), as shares of the company have fallen by almost 60% year-to-date. Some esteemed long term investors, including David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital and 70 other elite funds still own 11.50% of the float as of September 30, however.

Inventergy Global Inc (NASDAQ:INVT) has surged by over 80% on abnormally high volume as Twitter user Michael Goode reported that Inventergy Global Inc (NASDAQ:INVT) is being pumped as a paid promotion. Given the stock’s small float of 2.8 million shares, its tiny market cap, and the short float of 7.37%, it’s not surprising that shares are up. Most paid promotions end deep in the red so we would be careful with this one.

On the next page, we examine FXCM, Triumph Group, and Rewalk Robotics.
FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) is another stock that is currently experiencing a short squeeze, as shares of the company rallied by another 17% today on the strength of forced buy-ins and technical buying. FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) shares recently closed above a key technical moving average and speculators are betting that the brokerage’s momentum will continue. As of the end of the third quarter, Five funds from our database owned $5.24 million worth of FXCM shares, or roughly 11.4% of the float. Of the five elite funds, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies is the most noteworthy with a reported holding of 75,300 shares.

In other news, Triumph Group Inc (NYSE:TGI) shares are trading 13% higher after the company announced Daniel J. Crowley will replace founder Richard C. Ill as CEO as of January 4, 2016. Crowley has substantial management experience, as he ran two multi-billion dollar businesses in Raytheon before joining Triumph Group. Mr. Crowley said:

“I am deeply honored to succeed Rick as Triumphs next President and CEO. Triumph has emerged as a critical supplier and partner to virtually all Tier 1 aerospace and defense OEMs that demand the highest level of quality, affordability and on-time delivery. I look forward to leveraging our comprehensive capabilities and talented workforce to deliver on customer commitments, support Triumphs and our customers growth objectives, and drive shareholder value.”

On the back of the new CEO announcement, the analysts at Cowen upgraded Triumph Group Inc (NYSE:TGI) to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Underperform’.

Concluding our list of hot stocks for today is Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ:RWLK), whose shares are 3.67% in green as the stock continues to benefit from the momentum given to it after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) agreed to pay for Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ:RWLK)’s exoskeleton systems to help qualifying veterans walk and improve their quality of life. Just two funds among those we track amassed $658,000 worth of Rewalk Robotics shares at the end of September.

Disclosure:None