Here’s Why Oracle, Smith & Wesson, Paratek Pharmaceuticals and Two Other Stocks Are Trending Today

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Market vibes are mixed on Friday as investors reassess the possibility of a Brexit amid the suspension of the referendum debate following the murder of a British lawmaker.

Several stocks are making headlines today, including Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC), Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR), Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PRTK), and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP). Let’s find out why these stocks are on the move today and analyze the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

Academic research has shown that certain insider purchases historically outperformed the market by an average of seven percentage points per year. This effect is more pronounced in small-cap stocks. Another exception is the small-cap stock picks of hedge funds. Our research has shown that imitating the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds outperformed the market by nearly a percentage point per month between 1999 and 2012 (read more details here).

Oracle ORCL

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Smith & Wesson Beats Estimates

Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC) are gaining after the company posted better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results. The Massachusetts-based manufacturer of firearms posted EPS of $0.66, better than the analysts’ estimate of $0.54. Revenue in the quarter came in at $221.1 million, topping the consensus estimate of $214.55 million. For full fiscal 2017, the company expects its EPS in the range of $1.83 to $1.93, versus the estimates of $1.66. During the earnings call, James Debney, Smith & Wesson’s CEO, said that strong quarterly results are in line with the company’s vision of becoming a leading provider of quality products for shooting, hunting and outdoors. As of the end of the first quarter, 24 hedge funds from our data are long Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC), down from 27 funds a quarter earlier. Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors owns 474,369 shares of the company.

Oracle Posts Strong Quarter

Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s stock has advanced by over 2% today after the company met earnings estimates and posted better-than-expected revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter. Oracle’s sales got a boost due to increasing cloud SaaS business. Oracle posted EPS of $0.81, in line with the consensus estimates. Revenue in the quarter came in at $10.71 billion, topping the estimated $10.47 billion. In a statement, Oracle’s CEO Safra Catz said that the company implemented the “accelerated buying experience” using which the customers can buy and start using company’s services and products quickly. He added that Oracle’s growth in Asia Pacific is “superb” and demand is strong in Europe. Among the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 62 funds amassed around $7.9 billion worth of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)’s  stock at the end of March. Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick First’s Pacific Advisors owns more than 25 million shares of the company.

We will discuss Finisar, Paratek and BP on the next page.

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