Why Are These Four Stocks in the Spotlights Today?

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVTI)’s stock jumped by 11.6%, after reporting better than expected earnings. For its third quarter, the company earned $0.42 per share on revenues of $173.51 million, versus estimates of $0.41 and $180.24 million respectively. Average freight revenue per loaded mile increased 3.3% year-over-year to $1.816 while total tractors count increased by 122 to 2,721. Management didn’t provide its guidance for the fourth quarter, but said that they expect higher volumes of committed capacity. The company’s Shares look reasonably cheap, with forward P/E below 10, but investors should pay close attention to labor costs in the future, as the U.S. economy nears almost full employment. There is currently a shortage of qualified truckers that could get worse over time.

XenoPort, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNPT) gained 10.22% as sentiment around the stock improves. XenoPort received some bad news in September from a study concerning its potential psoriasis treatment XP23829 in which nearly a third of trial subjects prematurely dropped out due to gastrointestinal-related side effects. The good news is the drug met its primary endpoint in terms of efficacy. The market has been vacillating on XP23829’s prospects ever since, although its shares have rallied in recent weeks as the optimists think there will still be healthy demand if the drug is approved.

Of the around 730 elite funds we track, 16 funds owned $106.8 million of the company’s shares (representing 27.80% of the float) on June 30, including Julian Baker and Felix Baker‘s Baker Bros Advisors, which reported ownership of 6.51 million shares, followed by Samuel Isaly’s Orbimed Advisors with 5.77 million shares.

Disclosure: none