Trending Stocks: Alibaba, JPMorgan, Citigroup, AMD, Wells Fargo & Co

The markets are in the green today amid stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings being issued from several finance and banking sector stocks, as well as healthy retail sales data for the month of September coming to light, which showed that sales rose by 0.6%, the most in three months.

Among the stocks that are in the spotlight today are Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). Let’s find out why these stocks are being scrutinized today and analyze what hedge funds think of each of them.

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Alibaba to Use AMD Chips in the Cloud

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has skyrocketed by some 8% so far today after Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) said that it plans to use AMD’s Radeon Pro graphics chips for its Cloud services. In a statement, Alibaba’s Cloud business president Simon Hu said the partnership between AMD and Alibaba Cloud will help diversify its cloud-based graphics processing solutions for its customers. The news is a breather for AMD, whose chips business has been struggling lately amid intense competition from rivals like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). AMD’s CEO Dr. Lisa Su said in a statement that working with Alibaba will help the company align its innovation and investments with the needs of the Cloud market. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is tapping into Cloud services to compete with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services andMicrosoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Azure.

At the end of the second quarter, 25 funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned shares of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), while 69 were long Alibaba.

Citigroup Beats Estimates

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C)’s stock has risen by over 2% today after the company beat analysts’ estimates with its third quarter earnings results. The New York-based investment bank posted a profit of $3.84 billion, or $1.24 per share, down from $4.29 in billion profit posted for the same quarter of last year, but above the estimates of $1.16 per share. Revenue for the quarter came in at $17.76 billion, beating the forecasts of $17.36 billion. Citigroup has managed to withstand one of the toughest periods for the industry in recent years, with the end of fixed-income trading. Trading revenue, excluding an accounting adjustment, jumped by 16% to $4.13 billion for the quarter. Citigroup’s CEO Michael Corbat said that the sectors where the company has been investing are now gaining momentum. Mr. Corbat added that the company is “intensely focused” on shareholder returns. At the end of the second quarter, 97 funds in our database of 749 13F-filing funds were bullish on Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C).

Move to the next page to read about the rest of today’s trending stocks covered in this article.

Wells Fargo’s Sliding Despite Double Beat

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) was trading in the green earlier this morning as the embattled company posted solid third quarter earnings of its own, which were better than analysts’ forecasts. However, shares have since slipped to 0.60% in the red. The bank, whose CEO stepped down this week due to pressure over the company’s fraudulent accounts scandal, earned $1.03 per share in the third quarter, versus the consensus estimate of $1.01 per share, while revenue came in at $22.33 billion, narrowly above the forecasts of $22.21 billion. Average loans totaled $957.5 billion, up by $62.4 billion compared to the same quarter of last year. Total average deposits of $1.3 trillion were also 5% higher than the deposits recorded at the end of the same period a year ago. On Wednesday, Wells Fargo announced that John Stumpf was stepping down from his roles as Chairman and CEO of the company, effective immediately, and that he would not receive a severance package. Mr. Stumpf is being replaced by the Bank’s President and Chief Operating Officer Timothy J. Sloan. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management has over 18.18 million shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) as of September 30.

JPMorgan Chase Crushes Analysts’ Forecasts

Investors are surprisingly timid on JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) today after the bank soundly beat third quarter earnings estimates. Earnings in the quarter came in at $1.58 per share on revenue of $25.51 billion, while analysts were eyeing $1.39 in EPS and $24 billion in revenue. Nonetheless, shares of the company opened strongly but have since faded slightly into the red for the session. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the bank had record income in its commercial banking segment and record loan balances in its asset management domains, while its Consumer businesses experienced double-digit loans and deposits growth. As of the end of the June quarter, 99 funds tracked by us were long JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM).

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