Why are These Five Stocks Deep in Green Territory on Thursday?

U.S. stocks are slowly but surely heading lower today, with the market under pressure following a sharp decline in oil prices. There are several companies that defy today’s downtrend and we’ll find out why in this article. Let’s see what prompted investors to push Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG), Constellium NV (NYSE:CSTM), Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (NYSE:NM), Sophiris Bio Inc (NASDAQ:SPHS) and Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) higher today.

In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8,000 funds in operation at present, Insider Monkey looks at only the aristocrats of this group, around 730 funds. Contrary to popular belief, Insider Monkey’s research revealed that hedge funds underperformed in recent years because of their short positions as well as the huge fees that they charge, not because they are not good at picking stocks on the long side of their portfolios. Hedge funds did in fact manage to outperform the market on the long side of their portfolios. In fact, the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds has returned 102% since the end of August 2012, beat the S&P 500 Index by 53 percentage points (see more details here).

Shares of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG) opened higher today and have surged by as much as 39%, following the release of the company’s 2015 third quarter financial report. Eyegate posted a net loss of $1.4 million, compared to a profit of $0.3 million for the same period last year. The company also announced a licensing agreement with a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) for EGP-437, the company’s first and only product so far. Eyegate has also said that proceed of $8.8 million from a public offering completed in August will be used for expenses related to further testing of the product.

Constellium NV (NYSE:CSTM) shareholders are all smiles today, as the stock has surged by as much as 20% during the first hours of trading. This comes as a surprise, as the company’s third quarter results released yesterday after market close missed Wall Street expectations. Revenues came in at $1.41 billion, below estimates of $1.46 billion, while profits turned negative as the company registered a loss of $0.48 per share, versus expectations of a $0.06 per share profit. So far this year, shares have shed 48% of value and are currently trading at $8.60 per share.

According to our database, 25 elite funds held Constellium NV (NYSE:CSTM) in their portfolios at the end of June, having snapped up 31.5% of the company’s common stock. Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson, the managers of Adage Capital Management, like this company a lot and have boosted their stake by 49% over the second quarter to amass 8.32 million shares.

A seaborne shipping and logistics company has also made the headlines, as Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (NYSE:NM) is among today’s top gainers, currently up by 16%. One of the company’s subsidiaries, Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation (NYSE:NNA) announced third quarter results on Tuesday, beating the Wall Street estimates of $75.2 million in revenues and earnings of $0.12 per share. Navios Maritime Acquisition reported revenues of $77.7 million, down by 49% year-over-year, and a profit of $0.15 per share when adjusted for stock option expenses. The stock has been a poor performer so far this year, dropping by 53% to a current price of $1.95 per share.

Bernard Selz’s Selz Capital and Chuck Royce‘s Royce & Associates are two shareholders of Navios Maritime Holdings. However, during the third quarter, Royce & Associates inched up its stake by 56,300 shares to 2.08 million shares, while  Selz Capital unloaded 350,200 shares and disclosed 1.54 million shares as of the end of September.

Sophiris Bio Inc (NASDAQ:SPHS) is among top gainers again, as investors’ euphoria extends into the third day after the company’s drug met the goal of a late-stage study. The stock skyrocketed on Tuesday, when news came out, and is currently up by 309% from Monday’s closing price. Sophiris has developed PRX302 for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, or enlarged prostate, and the latest results show patients experienced improvement in their symptoms following the use of the drug. Allison Hulme, CEO of Sophiris, is confident similar results in a second Phase 3 trial will be enough to secure FDA approval.

At the end of June, Gruss Asset Management, run by Howard Guberman, held 538,000 shares of Sophiris Bio Inc (NASDAQ:SPHS), the largest holding among the funds we follow. Jim Simons also decided to roll the dice, having acquired 35,618 shares for his fund during the second quarter.

Shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) have gained today as a reaction to IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI)’s bid to acquire Angie’s List Inc (NASDAQ:ANGI) (see more details). It seems investors see Yelp as an alternative for Angie’s List should the deal fall through. Earlier this year, Yelp hired Goldman Sachs to find a potential buyer, but abandoned plans to sell itself later on. The stock has registered a sharp decline since March 2014, losing roughly 75% of its value.

During the second quarter, Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) has registered a boost in its popularity among elite funds, as 44 of them were invested in the company, up from 29 at the end of March. Together they held approximately 33% of the company’s common stock. Eashwar Krishnan sees some upside potential, having increased his investment in Yelp by 36% over the second quarter to 4.87 million shares. Sanford J. Colen is also bullish with his fund, Apex Capital, having reported ownership of 2 million shares in its latest 13F filing, up by 47% during the third quarter.

Disclosure: none