Check Out Why These 4 Stocks Spiked This Morning

After a very bad start to the year, the markets have started to recuperate today, with all major U.S stock indexes up slightly. Among the stocks driving this rebound are Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL), Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP), and Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), all of which are up substantially in the early afternoon hours. Let’s take a look into the events which led to these spikes, as well as at how the hedge funds in our database feel about the companies involved.

Most investors don’t understand hedge funds and indicators that are based on hedge funds’ activities. They ignore hedge funds because of their recent poor performance in the bull market. Our research indicates that hedge funds underperformed because they aren’t 100% long. Hedge fund fees are also very large compared to the returns generated and they reduce the net returns experienced by investors. We uncovered that hedge funds’ long positions actually outperformed the market (read the details). That’s why we believe investors should pay attention to what hedge funds are buying — rather than what their net returns are.

Back to Tuesday’s gainers, let’s take a look first at Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), which is trading up by over 22% today. Before the market opened, the small-cap server technology provider issued preliminary fiscal year 2016 second-quarter financial results above its prior guidance. Management now envisions revenue of between $637 million and $639 million and EPS of $0.69-to-$0.72 for the quarter, up from the previous guidance of $580 million-to-$630 million and $0.54-to-$0.64, respectively. The earnings call is scheduled for February 28.

Among the funds in our database, 14 disclosed long stakes in Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) as of the end of the third quarter of 2015, the same as of the end of the previous quarter. The most bullish seems to be Chuck Royce’s mutual fund, Royce & Associates, which declared holding 881,413 shares of the company, after tripling its exposure during the third quarter.

Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL), for its part, is up by about 11.3% today after management updated its fourth-quarter guidance on Monday evening. The retailer now anticipates net sales to surge by roughly 3.7%, at the low end of its previous guidance, which called for an increase of between 3.7% and 4.7%. On the other hand, EPS guidance was trimmed on the high end, to $1.44-to-$1.46 from previous guidance of from $1.44-to-$1.48.

Interestingly, Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL) is quite popular among institutional investors. Among the funds that we track, 39 were long the company as of the end of the third quarter, up from 38 following the second quarter. Moreover, these funds owned 20% of the company’s total shares on September 30, with Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group holding the largest stake, comprising 2.42 million shares, worth about $123.5 million.

On the next page, we will look into the reason behind the surges in the shares of Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) and Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN).