Why Intel, Apple, and 3 Other Stocks Are All The Rage Among Investors This Morning

It’s officially the heart of earnings season, and the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are at or near record territory as investors brush off macro-economic concerns and anticipate earnings growth ahead, based on the public earnings data released so far. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK), Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) are all the rage this morning and use SEC filings to see how the smart money is positioned in each stock.

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).

Intel’s Results Underwhelm

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) reported mixed second quarter results after the market close yesterday, beating the consensus bottom-line estimate of analysts by $0.06 per share with EPS of $0.59, but missing the top-line consensus by $40 million with revenue of $13.5 billion. Although the revenue miss wasn’t very large, Intel’s crucial data center sales came in at $4.03 billion versus analyst estimates of $4.16 billion. Client computing group revenue also fell by 3% year-over-year to $7.3 billion. In good news, Intel generated $3.8 billion in cash from operations for the quarter, and its shares currently sport a dividend yield of around 3%. The company also repurchased $804 million in stock and the company’s restructuring initiative is on-track, as Intel pivots away from the PC and towards the cloud and smart-connected devices. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management reported owning a stake of almost 20 million shares in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) as of the end of the second quarter.

Crown Reports Mixed Quarter

Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) earned $1.19 per share on revenue of $2.14 billion for the second quarter, beating net income estimates by $0.08 per share, but missing sales expectations by $100 million. Although revenue retreated by 6.1% year-over-year, income from operations rose by 6% to $295 million. Underlying beverage can volume growth was strong in the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Southeast Asia. Shares of Crown Holdings are up by 3% year-to-date. 31 funds in our system were long Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCK) at the end of March, up by four from the end of the previous quarter.

Packaging Corp Earnings Ahead of Expectations, Revenue Lags

Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG) is in the spotlight today after the company reported net income of $1.25 per share on sales of $1.42 billion for the three months ended June 30. Analysts were expecting $1.18 per share in profit and $1.46 billion on revenue. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $290.4 million, ahead of last year’s $287.1 million despite lower pricing in packaging and paper products. In terms of guidance, management expects third quarter earnings of $1.30 per share and to close the acquisition of TimBar during the same time period. The number of funds that we track with holdings in Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG) fell by three quarter-over-quarter to 19 as of the end of March.

On the next page we’ll check out why Apple and Newmont Mining Corp are trending this morning.

Apple Benefiting From Pokemon Go

As the go-to mobile computing platform provider for hundreds of millions of affluent consumers around the world, it isn’t surprising that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is benefiting from the Pokemon Go craze; Apple does get 30% of the value of in-app purchases on iPhones after all. What is surprising is how much Apple might benefit from Pokemon Go. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Pokemon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that has caught fire in recent weeks, with large percentages of the tech-savvy population playing the game every day. According to analysts at Needham and Company, Apple could potentially realize $3 billion in revenue over the next year or two from the game. Given that Apple doesn’t really have many expenses associated with the game, a big chunk of that revenue will go straight to Apple’s bottom line. 152 funds in our system had a long position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as of the end of March, up by 19 quarter-over-quarter.

Newmont Beats Estimates

Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) reported solid second quarter results yesterday, amounting to EPS of $0.44 on revenue of $2.04 billion. The results beat the consensus analyst estimates by $0.15 per share and $120 million, respectively. While one reason for the beat is higher gold prices, the company also produced more and lowered costs. For the period, Newmont produced 1.3 million ounces of gold, versus 1.2 million for the comparable quarter of 2015. All-in sustaining costs also fell to $876 per ounce from $909 per ounce. Due to the strong execution, management sees all-in sustaining costs for 2016 coming in at $870-to-$930 per ounce from the previous anticipated range of $880-to-$940 per ounce. Of the 766 active funds that we track, 37 owned positions in Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) valued at $896.85 million on March 31, which accounted for 6.40% of the stock’s float.

Disclosure: None