Why Yahoo, Verizon Communications and Three Other Stocks Are on the Move Today

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Markets are at a standstill on Friday as investors weighed mixed earnings reports.

However, several stocks are making headlines today, including Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN), Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) and Technical Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:TCCO). Let’s find out what factor are making these stocks move and analyze hedge funds’ sentiment towards them.

Through extensive research, we have determined that the best approach to outperform the broader indices is to follow hedge funds into their top small-cap ideas. In our backtests, a portfolio of the 15 most popular small-cap stocks generated monthly alpha of 81 basis points, versus 0.7 percentage points posted by hedge funds’ top large- and mega-cap picks (see more details here).

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Yahoo flag, Sign, Pride Parade, logo, march, Human Rights,

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Verizon in Advanced Talks to Acquire Yahoo

Investors are closely watching Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) this morning after several media reports said that Verizon is close acquire Yahoo. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said the Verizon was discussing to buy Yahoo’s core internet business, including the company’s real estate, for about $5 billion. CNBC said that the deal could be announced as soon as “early next week”. Yahoo! received several bids, but the company is now solely in talks with the New Jersey-based telecommunications company.  As of the end of the first quarter, 97 hedge funds tracked by us were bullish on Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), up from 84 funds a quarter earlier. On the other hand, 61 hedge funds held stakes in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) at the end of March, up from 52 funds a quarter earlier.

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Olin Corporation Cuts 2016 Guidance

Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) shares have plunged by more than 20% so far today after the company cut its second-quarter and full-year guidance amid weak domestic caustic soda demand and chlorinated organic sales declines. For the second quarter, the Missouri-based ammunition manufacturer now expects net income to be  breakeven and adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $180 million. For the full year, Olin sees adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $840 million to $900 million. Olin’s CEO John E. Fischer said in a statement that “several headwinds” affected the second quarter, but the fundamentals of the business remain the same. Mr. Fischer also said that the company expects benefits from new trends emerging in the caustic soda market like low exports from China and European mercury cell chlor alkali capacity rationalizations. As of the end of the first quarter, 25 investors from our database were long Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN), down from 35 funds a quarter earlier.

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On the next page, we will discuss why Skyworks Solutions and Technical Communcations are on the move today.

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