Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Among Stocks in Spotlight on Wednesday

It’s another quiet day on Wall Street as all three index futures are in the red, but very modestly so.

Among the stocks making more waves than the broader market are Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS), Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE), and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Let’s take a closer look at each company and see how elite funds are positioned towards them.

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Amazon Beefs Up Prime Now in Houston

Everything store Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in the spotlight after launching no-charge one-hour restaurant deliveries in Houston. The service offers deliveries from popular restaurants, including Carrabba’s, El Tiempo Cantina, Max’s Wine Dive, P.F. Chang’s, Thai Gourmet, The Hay Merchant and others. Although some customers will tip, Amazon has assured customers that there will be no hidden fees or menu markups. Due to its novelty and uncertain business model, Amazon’s feature will only be available for its Prime customers in Houston for now. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global reported a stake of over 3.2 million shares in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of June.

Analyst Downgrade at Under Armour 

Analysts at Argus lowered their rating on Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’, stating the company will increasingly need large investments in the future to expand. The large investments could potentially weigh on Under Armour’s earnings growth and increase the company’s interest expense and debt. Due to those factors, the Argus analysts lowered their EPS for full year 2016 to $0.56 from $0.60. They have a $41.56 price target. Hedge funds were pretty bullish on Under Armour in the second quarter. The number of funds from our database with holdings in Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) rose by 10 quarter-over-quarter to 31 at the end of June.

On the next page, we examine Chico’s FAS, Bob Evans Farms, and Alphabet.

Chico’s FAS Beats 

Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) shares are well in the green today after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter. During the quarter, Chico’s FAS earned $0.25 per share on revenue of $635.7 million, beating the consensus estimates by $0.03 and $3.21 million, respectively. Although comparable sales retreated 3.1%, profits were ahead of estimates due to management’s progress at lowering costs and improving operating efficiency. In terms of guidance, Chico’s FAS’s management expects comparable sales to decline by low single-digits in the second half of the year. Of the around 750 elite funds we track, 22 investors were long Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) at the end of June.

Bob Evans Earnings Ahead of Estimates

Traders are bidding shares of Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) higher after the restaurant chain’s fiscal first-quarter EPS of $0.48 beat estimates by $0.03 per share. Although Bob Evans’ revenue of $306.32 million missed estimates by $5.56 million due to a 4.3% decline in comparable sales, traders largely focused on the bottom line beat and strong guidance. For the full year, the company expects EPS of $2.05 to $2.20, versus the previous range of $2 to $2.15. A total of 18 funds from our database were long Bob Evans Farms Inc (NASDAQ:BOBE) at the end of the second quarter, down by two funds from the previous quarter.

Alphabet Challenges Uber

The inevitable has finally happened, at least according to a Wall Street Journal article. Given that Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has worked on self-driving technology for years (and self driving tech neatly complements ride sharing), many industry watchers thought it was inevitable that Alphabet would challenge the current king in the industry, Uber. Starting this fall for commuters in San Francisco, Alphabet’s Waze app will connect potential riders with drivers who are heading in the same direction. Given that it’s an early-stage program, Alphabet won’t charge a fee and the service will likely be cheaper than Uber for many rides. As of the end of June, 135 funds from our database own class A shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), while 126 funds reported positions in the company’s class C stock. 

Disclosure: None