Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are In Spotlight Today

Crude futures have blasted their way above the $50 resistance level today to trade over $51.30 per barrel. Sentiment around the commodity has markedly improved as more traders buy into OPEC’s tentative agreement to cut crude production come November.

In this article, we will analyze why five stocks, Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT), AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO), Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ:PRMW), and Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:MZOR), are on the move today. We will also discuss the hedge fund sentiment towards the companies in question.

Through extensive research, we determined that imitating some of the picks of hedge funds and other institutional investors can help generate market-beating returns over the long run. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these investors, since they are usually less followed by the broader market and are less price-efficient. Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) has inched up 1.4% after Wells Fargo gave the equity its thumbs up, upgrading the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’. Analyst Tom Nikic likes the stock because he thinks the ‘noise’ resulting from the Sports Authority bankruptcy is in the rear-view mirror and that the Under Armour’s growth prospects are strong, especially over the next 12-18 months. Nikic has a $44-$46 price target range, up from the previous $38-$42. Michael Hintze‘s CQS Cayman LP established a new position of more than 1.4 million shares of Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) in the second quarter.

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) shares are off by 8.4% after Raymond James analyst Budd Bugatch downgraded the stock to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Strong Buy’. Bugatch considers that shares of the company are fairly valued given the Havertys’ third-quarter sales numbers (released on Friday) in which total revenue rose only 0.8% year-over-year and comparable store sales inched up 1.2% year-over-year. Of the 749 funds we track, 10 funds owned $62.47 million worth of Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT)’s stock, which accounted for 15.70% of the float on June 30, versus 11 funds and $68.65 million, respectively, on March 31.

On the next page, we find out why AGCO Corporation, Primo Water Corporation, and Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR are surging.
AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO) shareholders are happy today after Wells Fargo analyst Andrew Casey upgraded the equity to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ and hiked his target to $60-$63 per share from the previous $46- $49 per share. Casey thinks AGCO ‘will benefit from an anticipated bottoming in global farm equipment demand’ and that more favorable data coming out from Europe and Brazil could benefit around 70% of the company’s sales.  Shares of AGCO are 4.5% in the green so far today. The number of funds from our database with holdings in AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO) fell by one quarter-over-quarter to 23 at the end of June.

Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ:PRMW) shares have skyrocketed nu 12% after the company announced that it will buy Glacier Water Services to deliver various cost-efficiencies that management expects to generate $6-$7 million in annual synergies within 36 months of closing. Under the terms of the deal, the total preliminary transaction consideration is $263 million, consisting of $50 million in cash, around $36 million in Primo stock, and $177 million of net indebtedness and preferred stock being retired or assumed, and five-year warrants to buy 2 million Primo shares at an exercise price of $11.88 per share. A total of 17 funds from our database had a bullish position in Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ:PRMW) at the end of June, unchanged from the previous quarter.

Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:MZOR) is 14% in the green after the company announced that it has received purchase orders for 25 systems during the third quarter, including pre-launch orders for the recently unveiled Mazor X, a guidance platform for spine surgeries. The company expects total third quarter sales to be around $7.5 million. According to our data, five funds amassed 10.40% of Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:MZOR)’s float at the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None