Why Are Investors Paying More For These 4 Stocks Today?

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE:P), KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:KBIO), American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACAS) and Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) are enjoying a positive run along with the market today heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 0.09% and the S&P 500 up 0.03%. In addition to studying the latest news concerning these stocks, we’ll also take a look at the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

Why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment? Most investors ignore hedge funds’ moves because as a group their average net returns trailed the market since 2008 by a large margin. Unfortunately, most investors don’t realize that hedge funds are hedged and they also charge an arm and a leg, so they are likely to underperform the market in a bull market. We ignore their short positions and by imitating hedge funds’ stock picks independently, we don’t have to pay them a dime. Our research have shown that hedge funds’ long stock picks generate strong risk adjusted returns. For instance the 15 most popular small-cap stocks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by an average of 95 basis points per month in our back-tests spanning the 1999-2012 period. We have been tracking the performance of these stocks in real-time since the end of August 2012. After all, things change and we need to verify that back-test results aren’t just a statistical fluke. We weren’t proven wrong. These 15 stocks managed to return 102% over the last 38 months and outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 53 percentage points (see the details here).

Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE:P) has risen by 4.92% following an update to the company’s “Webcasting IV” rate setting proceeding, which will determine rates for the period of 2016 to 2020. The Register of Copyrights has concluded that it cannot provide an opinion as to the question posed by the Copyright Royalty Board as to whether or not that board may adopt rates and terms for webcasting that distinguish among different types or categories of licensors. The Register concluded that the question posed was “a theoretical one in that the Register is unable to discern how a written decision at this juncture could substantively impact the conduct or outcome of this proceeding.” Founded in 2000, Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE:P) is looking forward to a positive decision in December to create a “uniform rate structure for all musicians.”

Out of 730 funds in our database, 36 funds held 27.60% or approximately $1.25 billion worth of Pandora’s outstanding stock through the end of September. Eminence Capital, managed by Ricky Sandler, holds 7.0 million shares of Pandora valued at $149.9 million.

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:KBIO) shares have skyrocketed by 46.74%, re-engaging their torrid run of last week after a brief stumble this week. The company received a notice from the NASDAQ Stock Market that it is not in compliance with a listing requirement.

The stock exchange said KaloBios failed to register its quarterly filing on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:KBIO) has 60 days from the November 17 notification to submit a plan to the NASDAQ. In response, the biopharmaceutical company said it will submit the filing with the SEC and submit a compliance plan with the stock exchange on or prior to January 16, 2016. However, there is no assurance that KaloBios will file within the date required or that the NASDAQ will extend the submission timeframe. The company may also file an appeal if the NASDAQ does not accept the compliance plan, according to a Form 8-K filed on November 23.

By the end of the third-quarter of 2015, one hedge fund in our database held 3.30% of the outstanding stock of KaloBios.That firm was Renaissance Technologies, founded by Jim Simons, while held $250,000 of KaloBios’ outstanding stock at the end of September.