Why 2U, Take-Two, Acadia, Air Lease and Acxiom Are Making Headlines Today

U.S. stock indexes are up substantially in Friday trading, with the S&P 500 hitting record highs, driven by a surprisingly strong jobs report out of the U.S. Financial stocks are having a particularly strong day, rising by 1.5%, with bank stocks gaining nearly 3%.

Among the individual stocks on the move today are 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU), Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO), ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD), Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) and Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ:ACXM), all of which reported their latest quarterly results after the market close yesterday. In this article we’ll take a look at those companies performed and how their stocks are reacting to that performance, as well as see what the funds in our database think about these stocks.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see more details).

2U Sinks On Poor Guidance

Let’s start with 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU), which has lost almost 3.3% in Friday trading, even though the company delivered top- and bottom-line beats on Thursday afternoon. The firm reported a second quarter net loss of $0.09 per share, $0.03 better than anticipated, on revenue of $49.1 million, which was up by more than 39% year-over-year, and $610K above the Street’s consensus estimate. However, guidance fell short of expectations. For the third quarter of the year, 2U’s management said that it envisions revenue of $49.9 million-to-$50.4 million, missing analysts’ target of $50.5 million.

As of the end of the first quarter, ten funds among those that we track were long 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU). Among them was Columbus Circle Investors, which disclosed ownership of 1.12 million shares of the company.

Take-Two Interactive Spikes On Strong GTA, NBA Sales

Opposite to 2U, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) is trading up by about 2.75% on Friday after the release yesterday afternoon of the company’s first quarter of fiscal year 2017 earnings report. The videogame maker delivered a net loss of $0.21 on revenue of $272.56 million for the quarter, beating the Street’s consensus targets by $0.08 and $13.14 million, respectively thanks to a strong performance from its Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K franchises. For the ongoing quarter, management envisions adjusted EPS of $0.35-to-$0.45, well above the estimate of $0.22, and sales of $375 million-to-$425 million, also well ahead of expectations of $338 million.

42 funds among those that we track held long equity stakes in Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) at the end of March. The largest one was that of Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital, which owned 4.82 million shares when the first quarter came to a close.

We’ll check out the quarterly results of three other companies on the next page.

ACADIA Down Slightly On EPS Miss

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) are trading 0.1% lower on Friday after the company posted second quarter sales of $1 million yesterday, above the Street’s consensus. However, a net loss of $0.63 per share disappointed analysts, who were expecting a loss of $0.49 per share.

“The second quarter of 2016 was highlighted by transformative events for ACADIA, including the FDA approval and recent commercial launch of NUPLAZID™,” President and CEO Steve Davis stated. “We are executing on our plans to bring NUPLAZID to patients in need – our sales specialists have been trained and deployed; our patient and physician support system, NUPLAZIDconnect™, became operational at approval; we are expanding awareness of NUPLAZID among healthcare professionals through a number of initiatives including speaker programs, media and digital campaigns, and symposia at major medical meetings; and we are working with payors to make NUPLAZID available to eligible patients,” Mr. Davis concluded.

AT the end of the first quarter, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) counted the backing of 31 funds among those we track. Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors was the largest institutional shareholder of record, owning more than 24.2 million shares worth $677 million on March 31.

Air Lease Corp Takes Off After Strong Q2

Back to gainers, we’ve got Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL), which has gained 2.45% today after slightly beating analysts’ estimates on Thursday afternoon with the release of its second quarter results. EPS of $0.84 came in $0.02 ahead of expectations, while revenue of $350.13 million was narrowly higher than the consensus of $349 million.

“We had another strong quarter, with our business continuing to deliver record revenues and strong results. Our customers continue to perform well. The sale of our ATR and E-jet fleet to NAC is progressing on track. Demand for our used aircraft remains robust. We remain watchful of OEM and airline capacity discipline, and we look forward to any and all opportunities that may arise,” stated John L. Plueger, President and CEO of Air Lease.

23 funds in our database were long Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL) at the end of the first quarter, including John Osterweis’ Osterweis Capital Management, which held more than 2.5% of the float, or about 2.62 million shares.

Acxiom Posts Robust Q1 2017 Figures

Finally, there’s Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ:ACXM), which has spiked by 8.7% on Friday, driven by a double beat posted on Thursday afternoon. After the bell rang, the firm announced fiscal first quarter EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $214.8 million, $0.06 and $11.42 million above estimates, respectively. For the full-year, management guided for adjusted EPS of $0.55-to-$0.60 above the Street’s consensus of $0.55 at the mid-point of the range. However, sales are expected to be in the $850 million-to-$870 million range, below analysts’ target of $885.2 million. Also helping the stock on Friday was an upgrade from BMO Capital, which raised its rating on the company’s stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’.

Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ:ACXM) was in the portfolios of 15 hedge funds in our database as of the end of March. Among them, was Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management, which held more than 3.00 million shares at the end of the quarter.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned in this article.