Today’s Trending Stocks: Sarepta, Humana, HTG Molecular Diagnostics, and More

Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) is in the spotlight after Cleveland Research’s Kevin Rottinghaus said the stock had more potential near-term upside (even though he rates the stock as a ‘Neutral’). Given his research, Rottinghaus thinks SSDs could surprise in terms of pricing and demand among the client and enterprise sectors. Yesterday, the market research firm IDC reported that global PC shipments fell by 3.9% year-over-year to around 68 million units in the third quarter. That number was better than estimates, and could help Western Digital if PC shipments outperform. The number of funds from our database with holdings in Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) rose by six quarter-over-quarter to 48 at the end of June.

Traders are watching Lloyds Banking Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:LYG) after the bank announced that it will trim 1,230 jobs as part of the company’s plan to become more competitive. Shares of the bank are down by 36% year-to-date due to Brexit uncertainty, the British government’s plan to divest a big part of its stake in the bank, the weaker pound, and the unresolved Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) issues with the DoJ. Hopefully, the lower expenses will help Lloyds nurse back to health. A total of 10 funds tracked by us owned shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:LYG) at the end of the second quarter, up by three funds from the previous quarter.

Last but not least, nano-cap HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM) is 56% in the green after the company announced that it has entered into a broad companion diagnostics master agreement with Merck KGaA to allow the latter to utilize the HTG EdgeSeq DLBCL cell of origin assay in the latter’s M7583, selective and irreversible inhibitor of Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase program. Although no financial details were disclosed, CEO TJ Johnson said:

“We are honored to be chosen as the diagnostic development partner for Merck KGaA’s BTK program and our team is now focused on the near-term milestones. Additionally, having a master companion diagnostic agreement paves the way for additional development collaborations.”

Just two funds from our database owned $605,000 worth of HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM)’s stock, which accounted for 3.20% of the float on June 30, versus one fund and $577,000, respectively, on March 31.

Disclosure: none