Most Searched Tickers Among Financial Advisors: Focus on Tech Following Earnings

On the fourth spot is biotech company, Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON), which has been included in the top 20 list several weeks in a row. Intrexon has gained more attention amid the escalation of threats from the Zika virus, as it is one of the few publicly-traded companies engaged in finding a solution to combat the virus. Last year, Intrexon acquired Oxitec, a company specialized in developing biological insect control solutions. The timing of the acquisition couldn’t be better and in December, Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) issued a statement saying that Oxitec was going to increase supplies of its mosquito control solutions, OX513A, through its facilities in Brazil. The World Health Organization said earlier this week that Zika represents a global health emergency and that threat might speed the approval of OX513A in other countries, including the U.S.

Among the funds we track, only 17 reported long positions in Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) in the last round of 13F filings, versus 21 funds in the quarter prior to that. However, the recent developments are likely to have raised the stock’s popularity among smart money investors.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is the fourth tech stock that ranked as the most-searched among financial advisors last week and the fifth-most searched stock overall, as the company managed to easily beat estimates for the fourth quarter. The social media company posted EPS of $0.79 on revenue of $5.84 billion, which were better than the highest estimates and topped the consensus estimates of $0.68 in EPS and revenue of $5.37 billion. For the full year, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s revenue surged by 44% to $17.93 billion. The company also provided a better-than-expected monthly active users figure of 1.59 billion, versus 1.58 billion expected by the Street. Moreover, Facebook reported strong mobile segment growth, with more than 90% of the monthly active users having been on mobile in the fourth quarter. The strong results propelled the stock higher and sent it 4% into the green year-to-date.

Facebook’s stock lost some popularity among the funds we track during the third quarter, but it still ranked as one of the most popular stocks overall. A total of 128 funds held shares at the end of September, versus 133 funds a quarter earlier. Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital is the largest shareholder of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) in our database, holding 10.70 million shares as of the end of September. In the current round of 13F filings, billionaire Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management disclosed ownership of 311,182 shares of Facebook.

See the full list of the top 20 most-searched tickers among financial advisors on the following page.