Why These Five Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

It’s the fourth day of the week, and OPEC is once again meeting in Vienna to try and hammer out some sort of production cap. The bears think Iran’s rivalry with Saudi Arabia will preclude any meaningful show of unity while the bulls hope that this time will be different. Among the stocks buzzing today are Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD), Conn’s Inc (NASDAQ:CONN), Joy Global Inc. (NYSE:JOY), and 58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA). Let’s take a closer look and analyze how elite funds are 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).

Johnson & Johnson Gets Bigger

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is getting bigger after the healthcare conglomerate announced it will buy Vogue International for around $3.3 billion in cash. Vogue develops, markets, and distributes salon-influenced and nature inspired hair care and other personal care products in the U.S. and 38 other countries. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016 and is not expected to impact 2016 Johnson’s EPS or revenue guidance. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management was one of the top shareholders of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) at the end of the first quarter.

American Woodmark Reports Mixed Earnings

American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD) posted earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $240.92 million for its fiscal fourth quarter, missing the EPS consensus estimate by $0.03 per share and beating top-line estimates by $3.76 million. Net sales rose by 16% year-over-year as the company experienced growth across all channels. Gross margin was 20.3%, versus 20.9% for the same quarter of the prior year impacted by higher labor benefit costs and greater depreciation weighed on the metric. For all of fiscal year 2016, American Woodmark earned $3.57 per share on revenue of $947.04 million. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies was long more than 700,000 shares of American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD) at the end of March.

On the next page, we examine Conn’s, Joy Global, and 58.com.

Conn’s Misses Top and Bottom Line Estimates

The Conn’s Inc (NASDAQ:CONN)’s turnaround looks like will need more time. For the first quarter fiscal 2017, Conn’s posted a loss of $0.31 per share on revenue of $389.11 million, missing the estimates by $0.37 per share and $4.05 million, respectively. Same store sales for the quarter inched lower by 1.3% year-over-year, while the company’s credit revenues rose by 5.5% to $70.1 million. Provision for bad debts went up by $10.3 million to $57.8 million. For full fiscal 2017, Conn’s expects revenue growth in the low- to mid-single digits, retail gross margin of 36.75% to 37.5%, and same store sales decline by mid- to low-single digits. Conn’s Inc (NASDAQ:CONN) was included in the equity portfolios of 13 funds from our database at the end of the first quarter, up by three from the previous quarter.

Joy Global Reports Mixed Results

It was a better-than-expected fiscal second quarter for Joy Global Inc. (NYSE:JOY)‘s bottom line, as the producer earned $0.09 per share versus break-even estimates. The low commodity prices are still weighing on demand, however, as Joy Global’s top-line missed estimates by $5.72 million with revenue of $602 million. Sales retreated by 25.7% year-over-year, while bookings fell by 9% to $681 million. Cash from operations was $44 million, down by $27 million from the comparable quarter of the previous fiscal year. Management is continuing cost reduction initiatives and predicts adjusted sales and earnings for the full year at the lower end of the previous guidance range of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion for revenue and $0.1 to $0.5 for adjusted earnings per share. The number of funds tracked by us with holdings in Joy Global Inc. (NYSE:JOY) rose by three quarter-over-quarter to 27 at the end of March.

58.com Inc Turns In a Better-Than-Expected Quarter

58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA) lost $0.36 per share on revenue of $231.3 million in its first quarter, beating the consensus estimates by $0.30 per share and $6.21 million. Total revenues surged by 165.6% year-over-year, while gross margin amounted to 89.5% versus 93.1% posted a year earlier. Revenues rose sharply due to the successful acquisition and integration of classified site Ganji. For the second quarter, the company expects revenue of $296 million to $303 million. Overall, 27 investors from our database reported long positions in 58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA) as of the end of the first quarter.

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