Why Facebook, Microsoft, Alcoa, and More Are Turning Heads Today

Seagate Surges on Outlook, Cuts

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) shares have skyrocketed by more than 19% in early morning trading after the hardware drive manufacturer guided for $2.65 billion for its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016, trouncing estimates of $2.32 billion. The company also expects adjusted gross margin of approximately 25.8% and GAAP gross margins of 25% for the period. Seagate’s strong adjusted gross margins will likely trend higher as management has plans to cut 14% of its global headcount by the end of fiscal year 2017, or approximately 6,500 employees. Of the 766 funds that we track, 24 owned $759.92 million in Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) positions on March 31, which accounted for 7.40% of the float.

Microsoft Does a Deal with Facebook

Although Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may officially be in the social media business now with its purchase of LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is still willing to do mutually-beneficial deals with the giant from Redmond. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two tech companies are expected to announce a deal today through which Facebook will use Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud tools in addition to its Facebook at Work tool. Given Facebook’s size, the deal should help Microsoft’s productivity division grow, while Facebook should realize more productivity. 164 top funds owned shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at the end of March, up by 18 funds from the previous quarter. Meanwhile 144 funds had a bullish position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of the first quarter, up by four funds from the previous quarter.

Disclosure: None