Wednesday’s Trending Stocks: Twitter, Statoil, Mondelez, More

AK Steel Beats Estimates

AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS)’s stock has surged more than 13% in morning trading on Wednesday after the company posted better than expected second quarter results. The Ohio-based steel company benefited from reduced vulnerability of spot prices following increased tariffs on steel imports, especially from China. Overall, AK Steel earned $0.08 per share, toppling the estimates of a loss of $0.02. Revenue of $1.49 billion missed forecasts of $1.53 billion however. In a press release, AK Steel’s CEO Roger K. Newport said that the decision to trim its exposure to commodity spot markets and increase its focus on higher value products contributed positively to the financial performance of the company during the quarter. Out of 766 active funds tracked by us, 17 of them were long AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) at the end of March.

Mondelez Enters China; Gets Upgrade from Susquehanna

Investors are watching Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) keenly this morning after the company revealed its plans to tap into the Chinese chocolate market in September. The move comes at a time when Mondelez’s rival Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) is facing intense pressure in China amid an economic slowdown in the country and declining demand. Meanwhile, financial services firm Susquehanna upped its rating on Mondelez International to ‘Positive’ from ‘Neutral’ on the back of the company’s possible acquisition of Hershey or its merger with some other Food & Beverage conglomerate over the next 12 months. Recently, Hershey rejected Mondelez’s $23 billion offer, but analysts believe that Mondelez will come back to the table with a sweeter offer. At the end of the first quarter, 63 hedge funds in our system were bullish on Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), with the aggregate value of their holdings standing at $5.65 billion.

Statoil Swings to Loss

Statoil ASA(ADR) (NYSE:STO)’s stock has dipped in the red by more than 2% today after the company posted a net loss of $307 million for the second quarter, surprising analysts who had forecast $264 million in net profit. Revenue for the quarter declined by 33% to $10.81 billion, also widely missing the consensus estimate of $11.71 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes also plunged by 68% to $913 million, well off the $1.31 billion predicted by analysts. Statoil also announced that it will slash its expenditures by 8% to $12 billion in 2016. Among the hedge funds in our database, just seven were long Statoil ASA(ADR) (NYSE:STO) at the end of the first quarter.

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