Trending Stocks: Emerson Electric, JAKKS Pacific, Apollo Education and More

The stock market is trading higher on Friday following positive data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed the creation of 287,000 jobs in June, vs. expectations of 175,000.

Some of the stocks that are trending this morning, include Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR), JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK), WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC), Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:EBIO), and Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL). Let’s find out why investors are keenly watching these stocks today and analyze the hedge funds sentiment towards each company.

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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Bidders Lineup for Emerson Electric

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) is in the news this morning after Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that three companies are expected to submit their official bids to acquire Emerson Electric’s France-based alternator business Leroy Somer later this month. The bids will value the company at around $1.1 billion, the source added. The bidders include private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Wolong Electric and another Chinese company, which was not named by the source. Emerson Electric wants to sell Leory Somer, one of the most important assets of its Motors and Drives unit, as it plans to increase focus on process automation, heating and air conditioning. A total of 34 funds from our database were bullish on Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) at the end of the first quarter. The aggregate value of their holdings was about $455.7 million.

Judge Rules in Favor of JAKKS Pacific

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK) is making headlines today following a US state judge dismissed claims of the company’s rival Wicked Cool Toys that JAKKS interfered with its contract to make Cabbage Patch Kids toys. JAKKS had sued Wicked Cool Toys and its former executive Jeremy Padawer last year of secretly collaborating with Original Appalachian Artworks to give JAKKS’s license for the toys to Wicked Cool. Wicked Cool Toys countersued JAKKS, and claimed that it used illegal means to damage the Cabbage Patch Kids brand. The judge trashed Wicket Cool Toys’ claims on Wednesday, saying that JAKKS had the right to flood the market with its toys at reduced costs. Out of around 766 funds from our database, 11 funds held stakes in JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK) at the end of the first quarter. Among them, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies owns 1.67 million shares of the company.

On the next page, we will see why WD-40 Company, Eleven Biotherapeutics and Apollo Education Group are making moves today.