Cree, Ollie’s, Beazer Homes: Why These 5 Stocks Are Making Wednesday Moves

Although the broader indexes are relatively flat overall, with the Dow off by 35 points, the S&P down by 0.17%, and the NASDAQ inching lower by 0.04%, shares of Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE), Sigma Designs Inc (NASDAQ:SIGM), Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL), Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI), and Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) are each showing more volatility than the broader market.

In this article, we’ll find out why traders are buying and selling these stocks today, and use the latest SEC filings to determine how the world’s greatest investors were positioned in them during the second quarter.

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China Rules Lift LED Producers

Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE) is up by 3% today after the DigiTimes reported that the Chinese government will ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs of between 15W and 60W, beginning October 1. Due to the ban, experts expect demand for LED bulbs, which Cree specializes in, to rise, as LED’s currently account for just 30% of all lighting purchases in the nation. Out of the 749 hedge funds that we track which filed 13F’s for the June quarter, 11 were long Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE) on June 30, down by six from the March quarter.

Sigma Designs Sinks A Day After Earnings

Although the company reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal year 2017 second quarter yesterday, which pushed shares up by over 6% for the day, traders have grown less impressed the longer they’ve had to look at them, pushing Sigma Designs Inc (NASDAQ:SIGM) shares 7.7% lower today as a result. For the quarter, Sigma Designs earned $0.07 per share on sales of $61.3 million, beating the consensus marks by $0.06 per share and $0.11 million respectively. Revenue rose by 5.5% year-over-year and by 14% sequentially due to strong demand and early adoption of the company’s Connected SmartTV Platforms product. However, earnings were off by 42% year-over-year, which may have begun to spook investors. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies held over 1.9 million shares of Sigma Designs Inc (NASDAQ:SIGM) at the end of June.

On the next page we’ll examine the latest activity concerning Delta Air Lines, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, and Beazer Homes.

Delta’s Guidance Strong

Although crude prices are now well in the green, traders have bid up Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) shares to the tune of 5.5% after the airline issued strong guidance for the September quarter. For the period, Delta’s management expects operating margin to come in between 18% and 19%, operating cash flow to be near $1.5 billion, and passenger unit revenue to inch lower by 7%. Crucially, Delta sees system capacity rising by only 1.5% as the company maintains its discipline. The number of funds that we track with holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) fell by three quarter-over-quarter to 94 at the end of June.

Secondary Offering for Ollie’s Shareholder

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) shares are in the red today after the company announced a public secondary offering of slightly over 13.7 million shares being made by affiliates of CCMP Capital Advisors, a leading global private equity firm. Ollie’s was acquired by affiliates of the PE firm, along with certain members of its own management team, back in September 2012, before going public again in 2015. Ollie’s will not receive any proceeds from the secondary offering. 19 hedge funds in our database were long Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) at the end of the second quarter.

Beazer Announces Strong Preliminary Results, Senior Offering

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) is 6% in the green today after the company announced strong results for the first two months of its fiscal 2016 fourth quarter. For the time period, new orders jumped by 23% compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year. The rise was due to improved absorption pace. Beazer Homes also expects its fourth quarter backlog conversion ratio to be in the range of 75%-to-80%. Beazer Homes also intends to issue an offering of $300 million of senior notes due 2022 to fund the repayment of its 6.625% senior secured notes due 2018. 11 funds that we track were long Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH) at the end of June, down by three funds quarter-over-quarter.

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