What Has Gotten Into These 5 Surging Stocks Today?

GoPro Hires a Design Talent

GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) shares have surged by more than 13% today after the company reportedly hired senior Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
designer Danny Coster, who will head GoPro’s new hardware design group. Coster has over 500 design patents and worked closely with Jony Ive on the design work for the original iMac. With today’s rally, some investors are hoping that Coster can work his design magic on GoPro products and potentially increase GoPro’s demand and profits. 18 elite funds in our system held shares of GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) at the end of the fourth quarter, down by seven funds from the previous quarter.

Railroad Reports Mixed Earnings, Investors Applaud

CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) is 4% in the green this afternoon despite reporting mixed first quarter earnings. For the time period, CSX earned $0.37 per share on revenue of $2.62 billion, which met EPS expectations of $0.37, and topped revenue estimates of $2.56 billion. CSX’s sales dropped by 13.5% year-over-year due to lower shipping volumes and the company is guiding for fiscal year 2016 earnings per share to decline year-over-year due to the weak coal sector. Shares of the railroad rallied today because the market was expecting even worse results than analysts’ expectations. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management was among 45 elite funds that held shares of CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) at the end of the fourth quarter.

Favorable Ruling Sends EMCORE Higher

EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ:EMKR) is 14% higher due to a favorable court ruling. In September 2014, Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries filed for arbitration against EMCORE, seeking $47.5 million for various reasons related to a sale of EMCORE assets to Sumitomo in May of 2012. Yesterday, a three member arbitration panel rejected Sumitomo Electric’s claims and ruled that EMCORE is entitled to collect $1.9 million in escrow and recover over $2.5 million in fees and costs, a noteworthy result for the micro-cap company. 14 funds in our database held 16.4% of EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ:EMKR)’s float at the end of December. As with all micro-caps, investors should do their due-diligence before making any investment decision.

Disclosure: None