How Regions Financial Corporation (RF), Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC), and Three Other Companies Performed Last Quarter?

Markets continue their positive streak on the back of strong housing data. Various prominent companies including Goldman Sachs reported better-than-expected financial results, which also had a positive effect on the main indexes on Tuesday.

As the earnings season is in progress, let’s take a look at the results posted by Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC), W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE:GWW), Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) and Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE:SNV)In addition, we are going to assess the respective hedge fund sentiment towards each stock.

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 more details here).

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Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF)’s stock is trading marginally in the green as the company reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit on account of shutting down branches and reducing headcount. Regions Financial Corporation posted EPS of $0.24, beating the consensus estimate by $0.03, while its revenue of $1.40 billion went up by 4.5% on a year-over-year basis and was $20 million ahead of expectations. Among the funds we track, 39 funds amassed stakes in Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) worth $712 million in aggregate at the end of June, compared to 41 investors that held $802 million worth of stock a quarter earlier.

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Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) has declined by more than 1.50% even though the company’s third-quarter EPS of $1.06 beat the consensus estimate of $1.03. However, its revenue of $3.79 billion, up by 2.2% on the year, was $10 million lower than expected. The number of funds from our hedge fund database long Omnicom Group inched down to 24 from 25 in the second quarter, while the total value of their positions advanced to $1.77 billion from $1.71 billion.

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Head to the next page, where we will discuss the results of W.W. Granger, Stepan Company, and Synovus Financial Corporation.

W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE:GWW)’s shares have plunged by more than 4% despite the company posting top- and bottom-line results that were ahead of estimates. The company’s earnings of $3.06 per share, surpassed the consensus estimate of $3.02 per share, while its revenue of $2.6 billion topped the expectations by $10 million. W.W. Grainger expects its full-year EPS to be in the range of $11.40 to $11.70. A total of 19 funds from our database reported positions in W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE:GWW) worth about $719 million as of the end of June.

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On the other hand, Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL)’s stock has surged by more than 10% so far today on the back of the company’s third-quarter results. The company’s net income of $1.06 per share went up by an annual 16% and soundly beat the estimates by $0.11, while revenue inched up by 2% on the year to $445 million and topped the consensus estimate by $380,000. In a press release, Stepan Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, F. Quinn Stepan, Jr. said: “After a record nine months, we anticipate headwinds in the fourth quarter due to higher raw material costs versus fourth quarter of 2015, scheduled maintenance shutdown of our phthalic anhydride unit and accelerated depreciation resulting from the closure of our Canadian plant.” A total of 11 funds we track amassed around $41 million worth of Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL)’s stock at the end of June, down from 16 funds holding stock worth $44 million a quarter earlier.

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Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE:SNV) reported strong earnings for the third quarter as its earnings of $0.52 per share, beat the expectations of $0.50. However, the company’s revenue of $294.2 million fell short of the consensus estimate of $295.5 million. Synovus Financial Corporation also said it had started an accelerated share repurchase agreement worth $50 million in September. At the end of June, 22 investors from our database held shares of Synovus Financial Corporation (NYSE:SNV), down by four over the quarter.

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Disclosure: none