Five Big Winners in Today’s Trading Session Include Biotech with Promising Drug That Cures Ebola-like Virus

U.S equities inched lower in early trading this morning following twin deadly attacks on Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a metro train in the Belgian capital. Airlines, travel booking sites and other travel-related stocks have been among the biggest losers thus far in today’s trading session as a result. Nonetheless, there are a few stocks that have bucked the trend and made strong upward moves today. This article will discuss five of the biggest winners in today’s trading session and the firm-specific developments that are pushing those stocks higher.

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Let’s begin our discussion with Akorn Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX). The generic drugmaker has seen its shares surge by more than 39% so far today, after the company reported preliminary unaudited 2015 financial results and issued its financial guidance for 2016. Akorn has not filed its quarterly 10-K filings with the SEC since last spring, as the company has been working on restating earnings for the final three quarters of 2014. To be more detailed, the company’s accounting issues are related to its acquisition of Hi-Tech in April 2014, with the firm discovering an accounting error that was connected with the fair value allocation of assets acquired and liabilities assumed from that deal. As previously discussed, Akorn Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) estimates that revenue and pretax income from continuing operations were overstated by $35 million for the full 2014 year. Going back to the freshly-revealed preliminary unaudited financial results, the company’s preliminary net revenue for 2015 is expected to be roughly $985 million, while GAAP diluted earnings per share is anticipated to be $1.14. The company anticipates net revenue in the range of $1.06 billion to $1.08 billion for 2016 and GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $1.56 to $1.66. Shares of Akorn are down by 47% over the past 12 months. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. acquired a new stake of 2.88 million shares in Akorn Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) in the final quarter of 2015.

Shares of Centrus Energy Corp (NYSEMKT:LEU) jumped by 29% in morning trading after the company released its fourth-quarter earnings report. Centrus Energy is a supplier of low enriched uranium, which is a key component in the production of nuclear fuel for reactors to produce electricity. The long-term provider of LEU reported fourth-quarter revenue of $157.9 million, which was an increase of 28% year-over-year. Nonetheless, revenue for 2015 shrank by 19% year-over-year to $418.2 million, which reflects the previously-anticipated reduction in the volume of separative work units, which is contained in the LEU, and the expiration of the company’s technology services contract as of the end of September 2015. Centrus Energy Corp (NYSEMKT:LEU) also reported a net loss of $101.8 million for the fourth quarter, far worse than the net loss of $42.3 million reported for the same quarter of the prior year. The company had a net loss of $187.4 million in 2015, compared to net income of $297.8 million in 2014. The 2015 bottom-line figure includes an impairment of excess reorganization value, while the 2014 results include $425.4 million of net reorganization gains. Shares of Centrus Energy are up by a whopping 133% year-to-date, following the company’s announcement of newly-signed sales contracts to supply utility customers with enriched uranium fuel. Those contracts have an approximate value of $165 million, with deliveries through 2022. Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management owns 371,475 shares of Centrus Energy Corp (NYSEMKT:LEU) as of December 31.

The next page of this article will discuss the three other big winners in today’s trading session.

NQ Mobile Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:NQ) shares are are up by 14% in today’s trading session after it reported a record quarterly top-line figure of $127.5 million for the fourth quarter, a 42.1% year-over-year increase. NQ Mobile’s fourth-quarter net income reached $19.9 million, or $0.21 per American Depositary Share (ADS). For the full 2015 year, the company reported record annual net revenue of $406.7 million, which marks an increase of 22.4% year-over-year. NQ Mobile Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:NQ)’s mobile value added service revenue for 2015 totaled $139.6 million, up from $106.1 million in 2014. The increase was mainly driven by growth in mobile gaming revenuesand live mobile social video platform revenue. A total of eight hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were invested in NQ Mobile at the end of December 2015 including Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors, which had 109,050 ADSs of NQ Mobile Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:NQ) in its portfolio at the end of 2015.

Biopharmaceutical company Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) has seen its stock gain over 6% in today’s trading session, after announcing great news about its novel therapeutic DNA-based monoclonal antibody product dMAb and DNA vaccine targeting the chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The company, which focuses on developing active DNA immunotherapies and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of cancers and infectious diseases, revealed that its dMAb antibody and DNA vaccine provided 100% protection against a lethal virus challenge in mice. The chikungunya virus is transmitted to people by mosquitoes, with its most common symptoms being fever and joint pain. Outbreaks of this virus have already occurred in African, Asian, European, and other countries, but there is no vaccine to prevent the virus or treat the chikungunya virus infection just yet. However, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:INO)’s DNA vaccine and dMAb products show great potential to provide both immediate and long-term protection to the global populace from CHIKV infection. Shares of Inovio are up by 12% year-to-date and could go even higher should the company’s Zika, MERS and Ebola dMAb products (which are being developed by the company) share the same success as the CHUKV product. The hedge fund sentiment towards the biopharmaceutical company increased in the fourth quarter of 2015, as the number of funds invested in the company climbed to 11 from seven quarter-over-quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management reported owning 697,543 shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:INO) through its 13F for the December quarter.

Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG)’s shares are 5% in the green today after analysts at RBC Capital Markets issued a very promising upgrade on the company this morning. RBC upgraded Zillow to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ and spiked its price target on the stock to $34 from $21, citing promising online traffic trends and positive real estate agent survey data. Zillow Group is an operator of real estate and home-related information marketplaces and has a portfolio of brands that includes real estate and rental marketplaces such as Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy and HotPads. Analysts at RBC Capital markets surveyed approximately 470 U.S real estate agents and concluded that the company has scored well with agents spending more than $500 per month in online advertising. RBC suggests that Zillow Group is well-positioned to benefit from a possible revival in the housing market, which could drive up agent advertising online. Moreover, recent data shows that online traffic on Zillow’s website increased by 34% year-over-year in March. Shares of Zillow Group are still down by 3% year-to-date despite having gained 15% in the past month. There were 22 top money managers monitored by our team which were invested in the company at the end of the fourth quarter, accumulating 7.50% of its outstanding common stock. Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital Management owned nearly 802,000 shares of Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ZG) on December 31.

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