Why Tesla, PTC Therapeutics, Freeport-McMoRan, and Two More Are in the Spotlight

Although the broader indexes are relatively quiet, crude futures are down more than 2% in afternoon trading as some traders continue to doubt that OPEC will be able to get its act together and cut production. In this article, let’s find out the reason why five stocks, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT), Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), and Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS), are in the spotlight, and let’s use the latest 13F filings to determine how elite funds were positioned among them.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track over 700 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Although Business Insider reported that the company will inch up the base price of the Model S by $2,000 to $68,000 in late November, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares are down 4% as the sell-off in the stock due to Donald Trump winning the election continues. Given that Trump favors existing auto-makers and the oil and gas industry, Elon Musk might find his road-map to manufacturing 500,000 vehicles a year by 2018 harder to achieve. 36 elite funds were long Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of June, down 3 funds from the previous quarter.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) is in the spotlight after Anthony Young of Macquarie hiked his price target to $13 per share from the previous $9, citing Freeport-McMoRan’s levered exposure to copper, which his firm thinks will trade for $2.43 per pound in 2017 and $2.13 per pound in 2018. Young also expects Freeport-McMoRan to come to an understanding with the Indonesian government to allow the company to export its commodities from the country. The analyst has an ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock. Despite the price target hike, shares of Freeport are in the red today due to lower crude prices. Of the 749 elite funds we track, 30 funds owned $1.52 billion of Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) and accounted for 10.90% of the float on June 30, versus 34 funds and $1.59 billion respectively on March 31.

On the next page, we find out why PTC Therapeutics Inc, Kohl’s Corporation, and Chico’s FAS Inc are surging.

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) is 6% in the green after Alethia Young of Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ and also increased her price target to $25 per share from $15. Due to last week’s CHMP’s positive recommendation, Young thinks PTC’s Translarna will likely be allowed to sell in Europe for at least another four years with no road-bumps. 13 top funds owned shares of PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) at the end of June.

Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) and Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) have surged 8% and 5%, respectively, after Paul Lejuez of Citi upgraded the two stocks to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’. Like many other sectors, Lejuez believes the two will benefit from Donald Trump becoming President. Specifically, the analyst thinks that Trump’s tax cuts will increase consumer income, which could translate to higher demand for the retailers. Lejuez has a $16 price target on Chico’s, up from the previous $13, and a $64 price target on Kohl’s, up from the previous $50. 28 and 22 funds tracked by Insider Monkey reported bullish positions in Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) and Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) at the end of the second quarter.

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