Why Chipotle, CarMax, Tesla, Wal-Mart, and More Are Trending

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is in the spotlight after the retailing giant disclosed that it awarded over $200 million in cash bonuses to its hourly associates in the second quarter. To put that in perspective, the amount paid translates to around $222 per hourly associate. Although that doesn’t sound like much, it is still an award of over 22 hours of pay for workers who make $10 per hour. Given that Wal-Mart has been criticized in the past for not paying its workers a living wage, the second quarter bonuses will help improve Wal-Mart’s image among those who are in support of a living wage. According to our data, 58 funds that we track were long Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) at the end of June, up by four quarter-over-quarter.

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) shares are 1% in the green after the retailer announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a new $5 billion share repurchase program. The retailer will begin buying back shares under the new authorization once the company completes the buybacks under its current $10 billion repurchase program, which its management expects will occur before the end of its fiscal year 2016. The number of funds in our system with holdings in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) stood at 32 at the end of June, down by two quarter-over-quarter.

Traders are talking about Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) today after the company issued a software update to fix bugs that could have potentially allowed very skilled hackers to break into the Model S’ control system and disrupt various actions relating to its displays, turn signals, and other systems. A Tesla spokesperson said: “Our realistic estimate is that the risk to our customers was very low. But this did not stop us from responding quickly.” Patching bugs will be even more important in the future as cars become more automated and connected. 36 funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of the second quarter, accounting for 4% of the float at that time.

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