In spite of better-than-expected April retail sales data, U.S. stocks are mostly trading down –although slightly- on Friday, making the S&P 500 and Dow tumble, while the Nasdaq posts some small gains helped by a recuperation in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Other stocks delivering considerable gains on Friday include HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM), Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY), Coeur Mining Inc (NYSE:CDE), Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) and Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLDX). So, let’s take a look at the news driving said spikes, and into what the hedge funds in our database think about the companies involved.
At Insider Monkey, we track around 785 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 about our small-cap strategy).
HTG Spikes On Bristol-Myers Deal
Let’s start with HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM), a nano-cap medical equipment provider company that has seen its stock gain almost 35% since the market opened today, despite the fact that it reported a top and bottom line miss for the first quarter on Thursday afternoon. Its net loss of $1.02 per share was $0.20 wider than expected, while revenue of $870,000 came in $390,000 short of consensus. However, the stock surged today on the back of an agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY), which stipulates the companies will collaborate in the research of the potential for immuno-oncology molecular profiling in diverse tumor types. As most nano caps, HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM) is not particularly popular in the hedge fund world. Among the firms that we track, only two were long the stock at the end of 2015. One of them was Bihua Chen’s Cormorant Asset Management, which last disclosed ownership of 201,000 shares of the company.
Follow Htg Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM)
Follow Htg Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM)
Realogy Rebounds On Sell-Side Upgrade
Next up is Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY), which is up by 2.45% on Friday afternoon, following an upgrade from Compass Point. On Friday, analyst Fred Small decided to boost his rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral, upping his price target by $5.00 to $40.00. The expert explained that, while the stock is now trading close to its lowest valuation since it went public in 2013, deleveraging and earnings growth could help the price going forward. Unlike HTG, Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE:RLGY) counts on plenty of hedge fund support. As of the end of 2015, 49 funds in our database held long positions in the company, with their combined positions accounting for more than 37% of the company’s total shares outstanding. The first quarter of 2016 also saw some newcomers, including Scott Scher & Michael Prober’s Clovis Capital Management, which started a stake, comprising 363,109 shares, over the period.
