Why Oracle (ORCL), Celator Pharma (CPXX), Peabody Energy (BTU) and Others Are Trending Today

The markets are dipping on Wednesday afternoon, as all major U.S stock indexes are trading down slightly. However, stocks were fluctuating both ways, as evidenced by five of the day’s hottest stocks. In this article, we’ll take a look at the latest news and hedge fund interest surrounding Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CPXX), Bio Blast Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:ORPN), Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE:MNK), and Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU).

Our research determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see more details here).

Let’s start with Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), which has gained almost 4% in Wednesday trading, after the company reported its third quarter of fiscal year 2016 financial results on Tuesday evening. Earnings of $0.64 per share came in $0.02 ahead of consensus estimates, while revenue of $9.01 billion missed estimates by $110 million, mostly due to FX headwinds, and in spite of the stellar growth seen in the company’s cloud business. Furthermore, Oracle added $10 billion to its stock buyback program and declared its usual $0.15 per share dividend, which will be payable on April 28 to shareholders on record as of April 14.

Boykin Curry‘s Eagle Capital Management was the largest Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) shareholder in our database at the end of the fourth quarter with 45.77 million shares, valued at more than $1.67 billion. In addition, another 52 funds in our database declared holding long stakes in the company as of December 31.

Next up is Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CPXX), which is trading up by more than 4.75% on Wednesday afternoon. The surge appears to be a continuation of the 484% surge seen between Monday and Tuesday, which was driven by the release of promising results in a late-stage, Phase 3 study to treat leukemia. According to the company, its drug Vyxeos considerably improved the average survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), versus the current standard-of-care chemotherapy.

Getting in on the Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CPXX)’s action after hours on Monday was billionaire Steve Cohen. According to a 13G filed on Tuesday, his family office Point72 Asset Management initiated a stake in the company, comprised of 2.85 million shares, which account for 8.3% of the company’s outstanding stock. Prior to the spike, the company already had the support of other major institutional investors in our database like First Eagle Investment Management, which disclosed ownership of 612,600 shares as of the end of the fourth quarter.