Why Facebook, Netflix, and Three Other Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

Crude futures are a bit lower today after the latest numbers from Iran and Libya showed a slight increase in exports/production in both countries. In addition to watching oil, traders are eagerly anticipating today’s Vice Presidential debate to see where the parties’ respective number two’s stand on the issues most relevant to the market.

In this article, we will find out why five stocks, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI), and Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT), are in the spotlight today. In addition, we will take a look at what the smart money investors from our database think about the companies in question.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

A few weeks after Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)‘s Instagram app adopted some ephemeral features similar to SnapChat stories, the social media giant’s WhatsApp division is also taking some inspiration from rival SnapChat. The similarities between Facebook’s mobile apps and SnapChat have increased after WhatsApp recently introduced new camera features that allow users to write or draw on videos and photos, as well as add emoji to media. Those features are similar to SnapChat’s existing editing options. Facebook bulls hope that the new features will blunt SnapChat’s rise and help Mark Zuckerberg’s company keep market share while the company transitions to the AI/augmented reality/virtual reality future. Meanwhile, the social media company is also pushing ahead with its connectivity initiative, as the company is talking with various countries for trial internet drone flights according to The Wall Street Journal. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital held 10.94 million shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) worth over $1.25 billion at the end of June.

Traders are keeping a close eye on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) after the stock pierced the $100 mark and soared over 4% on Monday. Some on the Street attribute the strength due to potentially strong viewership numbers after the ‘Luke Cage’ series premiere, while others attribute the price action to unconfirmed speculation that Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) might be interested in buying Netflix. However, various analysts have recommended investors take the rumors with a big grain of salt as the internet streamer hasn’t indicated that it wants to sell itself. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global trimmed its stake in Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) by 22% in the second quarter to just under 6.3 million shares during the second quarter.

On the next page, we see why JPMorgan Chase & Co, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, and Conatus Pharmaceuticals are in the spotlight this morning.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is trending after The Wall Street Journal published an article describing that the bank is developing a ‘new twist’ on blockchain, which is the principle innovation of bitcoin.  Rather than creating a new private blockchain, the bank’s engineers have figured out a way to grant access to various financial transactions to just the people who need to know, thus allowing the ledger be more flexible. Although the initiative is still young, it could help save JPMorgan and other banks substantial money in the long run. Hedge fund sentiment in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was relatively stable from March 31 to June 30. Of the around 749 funds that we track, 99 of them owned shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) at the end of the second quarter, up by two funds from the previous quarter.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) is in the green after the S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Ollie’s will replace Parkway Properties in the S&P SmallCap 600 after market close on October 5. Due to the need of various index funds to own all of the companies in an index, some traders anticipate additional demand for Ollie’s shares in the near term, hence the rally. The smart money was pretty bullish on Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) in the second quarter, as our data shows that the number of funds with holdings in Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) rose by eight quarter-over-quarter to 19 at the end of June.

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT) shares are higher today after the company announced the acceptance of emricasan abstracts for four posters — two for addressing clinical results and two for addressing preclinical results with the company’s pan-caspase inhibitor, emricasa — for the  AASLD Annual Meeting in Boston November 11-15, 2016. As with all nano-caps, investors should do due-diligence on both sides of the trade. Four funds from our database owned shares of Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT) at the end of the second quarter, up by one from the previous quarter.

Disclosure: None