Apple Among 5 Stocks Going Viral Today After iPhone 7 Unveiling

It’s an earnings and product-heavy edition of morning newsmakers today, as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently introduced its much-anticipated iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, while several other companies recently reported earnings or issued guidance.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why Apple, Tailored Brands Inc (NYSE:TLRD), Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO), Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are in the spotlight this morning and use the latest 13F data to see how the world’s most successful hedge funds are positioned in them.

Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

Tailored Brands Inc (NYSE:TLRD) is in the spotlight today after reporting strong earnings for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2016, ended July 30. For the period, Tailored Brands earned $0.99 per share on revenue of $909.68 million, beating the consensus estimates by $0.06 per share and $23.24 million respectively. Comparable-store sales rose by 2.9% year-over-year at Men’s Wearhouse, while Jos. A. Bank’s 16.3% comparable-store sales decline was in-line with expectations. Tailored Brands’ management is on track to achieve its targeted $50 million of cost savings for fiscal year 2016 and the company maintained its full-year adjusted EPS outlook of $1.55-to-$1.85. Of the 749 hedge funds that we track which filed 13F’s for the June quarter, 19 of them owned shares of Tailored Brands Inc (NYSE:TLRD) at the end of the second quarter, unchanged from a quarter earlier.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has the tech world buzzing after it introduced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus yesterday. As expected, the iPhone 7 doesn’t include a headphone jack and the starter iPhone will have double the storage as the previous version, in addition to being waterproof and dust resistant. As for Apple’s refreshed watch product, the Watch Series 2, it will be waterproof as well and have a faster processor and better graphics. Apple bulls hope the new products will increase demand and help Apple’s bottom-line grow again. Although the new phones were met with somewhat muted fanfare, the demand for them leading up to their unveiling was strong, with both Piper Jaffray and Goldman Sachs suggesting that as many as 44% of respondents were either planning to buy the new phones or were considering buying them. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1% in the second quarter to 11.3 million shares at the end of June.

On the next page, we’ll examine why Tractor Supply Company, Pier 1 Imports, and Intel Corporation are on investors’ radars this morning.

Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) is deep in the red in pre-market trading after reporting disappointing third quarter guidance. For the period, the company now expects EPS to be between $0.65 and $0.67 and revenue to be between $1.54 billion and $1.55 billion, compared to the consensus estimates of $0.72 per share and $1.61 billion, respectively. Comparable-store sales is expected to be between flat and a decrease of 1%. Tractor Supply’s management cited a number of economic headwinds that have impacted consumer spending, including weak energy production and the soft agricultural market, as reasons for the disappointing results. 29 funds in our system were long Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) as of the most recent 13F reporting period.

Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR) shares are sharply lower after the company issued softer-than-expected preliminary results for its fiscal 2017 second quarter. For the three months, Pier 1 expects a loss of $0.05 or $0.06 per share, while the consensus had called for a loss of $0.03 per share. The company also expects revenue to trend lower by 6.7% year-over-year as demand wanes. Adding salt to the wound is the news that CEO Alex Smith will step down effective December 31, 2016. The number of funds in our database with holdings in Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR) rose by nine quarter-over-quarter to 22 at the end of June.

A few years after buying McAfee for $7.68 billion, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is now spinning out the security business. According to the spin-out terms, Intel will retain a 49% stake in the new company, aptly also called McAfee, and will also receive $3.1 billion in cash from TPG, who will own 51% of the new company. The spin-out values McAfee at around $4.2 billion. 57 funds that we track owned shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) as of the most recent 13F reporting period.

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