Here’s Why JPMorgan, Energy Transfer Partners, and Two Other Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

Although the bulk of earnings season is in the rear-view mirror, all three indices are in the green today as sentiment in the market remains bullish. In this article, let’s find out why four stocks, Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP), Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE:SXL), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN), are on the move, and why JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is trending. In addition, we’ll take a closer look at the hedge fund sentiment toward the stocks.

We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see the details here).

Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE:SXL) are each down by around 8% after the latter agreed to buy the former in a unit-for-unit transaction. Specifically, Energy Transfer Partners unitholders will receive 1.5 common units of Sunoco Logistics units for each common unit of Energy Transfer Partners they own. The deal has been approved by both companies’ boards, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to ETP unitholders approval and other closing conditions. Sunoco Logistics management expects merger to be immediately accretive to the company’s distributable cash flow and both companies expect the deal to yield commercial synergies and cost savings in excess of $200 million per year by 2019. Despite the synergies promised, traders weren’t too impressed as some clearly expected a better deal. Of the 749 funds we track, 11 owned shares of Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE:SXL) and 22 were long Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) on June 30.

Traders are watching JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) after NBC News Correspondent Hallie Jackson tweeted that a top transition source told her that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was ‘never under consideration’ for the Secretary of Treasury position. If that is true, JPMorgan bulls would certainly welcome the news as Dimon has proven himself to be arguably the best CEO in the sector over the last decade. A total of 99 funds followed by Insider Monkey owned shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) at the end of the second quarter, up by two funds from the previous quarter.

On the next page, we’ll find out why the bulls are buying Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts Limited.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) have popped 2% and 6%, respectively, after analyst Vitaly Umansky of the research firm Bernstein projected Macau’s gross gaming revenue to rise by an average of 8% per year from 2016 to 2020. The analyst thinks the city’s mass gambling segment is firming up, while the much maligned VIP sector has also shown some growth spurts since September. If Umansky’s predictions come to pass, the worst would be over for the casino operators. In addition to the Macau news, there could be growth ahead in Japan if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe succeeds in his goal of legalizing gambling casinos in the country. The bill is being discussed currently in Japan’s Diet. Given that Trump is now the President-elect, the iniative might have a higher probability of succeeding than before. According to our records, 23 funds reported bullish stakes in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) and 30 funds held shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) at the end of June.

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