The US stock market inched up higher on Wednesday, partly fueled by an increase in energy stocks, which are gaining ground following a rebound in oil prices.
Among the stocks that are outpacing the market today are Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW), Cesca Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KOOL), Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCLR), Sizmek Inc (NASDAQ:SZMK) and 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD). So, let’s take a look into the events behind the growth of these stocks. In addition, we are going to assess the hedge fund sentiment towards the companies in question.
At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see more details).
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Genworth Financial Posts Gains On Modest Beat
Let’s begin with Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW), whose stock has surged by over 32%, which is its largest intraday surge in more than six years, driven by a top- and bottom-line beat for the second quarter. The company posted EPS of $0.25 and revenue of $2.24 billion,which topped the consensus estimates by $0.04 and $160 million, respectively. As of the end of the first quarter, 22 funds among those we track are long Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW), down from 28 registered at the end of the previous quarter. The largest stake was owned by Christopher Pucillo‘s Solus Alternative Asset Management, which last declared holding 15 million shares, up by 58% quarter-over-quarter.
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Saved Limbs Help Cesca Climb
Next up is Cesca Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KOOL), which has gained around 29% on the announcement of “promising results” from its 40-month follow-up for patients that had participated in its late stage, “no option” critical limb ischemia (CLI) feasibility study. Many of the patients treated with autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells reported successful limb salvage and, 40 months later, said they had experienced “a significant overall reduction in rest pain and improvements in quality of life,” the company said in a statement. “These longer-term, post-study follow-up results not only reinforce our belief that autologous bone marrow derived stem cell therapy using our SurgWerks-CLI system is effective, they also suggest that it is durable,” said Study Director Dr. Venkatesh Ponemone. Only one fund in our database disclosed a long equity position in Cesca Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KOOL) as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, Hal Mintz’s Sabby Management, which owned 111,094 shares worth $432 million.
