Why Facebook, Opower, Genworth, Apollo Education, and Sarepta Are Spiking Today

Does Sarepta Really Have 322% Upside?

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) are trading up by about 14.4% today after analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded the stock’s rating to ‘Outperform’ and set a $60 price target on the stock, suggesting upside potential of more than 320%. The firm’s analysts believe eteplirsen could receive accelerated FDA approval in the near-term, though other analysts aren’t convinced the treatment will get approved at all, so there are widely differing opinions on the viability of the treatment and the studies conducted with it.

17 funds in our system held long positions in Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) at the end of 2015, with their positions valued at $426.3 million. Among the largest shareholders was Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors, which held 2.24 million shares of the company.

Apollo Education Group Gains on Revised Buyout Offer

Next up is Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL), which is up by approximately 10.25% in Monday trading after the consortium of investors seeking to acquire the company boosted its offer to $1.14 billion from under $1.10 billion. According to a statement issued by the companies involved, this is the best and final offer that Apollo will receive from this consortium.

As of the end of 2015, Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) counted the support of 24 funds in our database, which held 24% of its float. A noteworthy position was that of Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC, which disclosed ownership of 10.13 million shares as of December 31.

Facebook Riding Earnings Wave

Finally, there’s Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which has gained over 0.5% since the bell rang this morning, continuing the rally that was set in motion by the company’s strong first quarter results announced last week. Shares are up by more than 8.5% since last Thursday, after the social media behemoth reported earnings of $0.77 per share, $0.15 ahead of the Street’s consensus, on revenue of $5.38 billion, which was up by 52% year-over-year, and also beat estimates, by $120 million.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is one of the most popular stocks among the hedge funds that we track. The company counted 146 such hedge funds as shareholders of the company as of the end of 2015. Among its supporters was Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, which held 9.78 million Facebook shares worth more than $1 billion on December 31.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.