Why Tesla, Facebook, Aetna and More Have Traders Buzzing Today

All three indexes are in the red today as traders take profits off the table from the rally that ended last week, and Brexit worries resurface. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why five stocks, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY), Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET), and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) are trending and examine what the world’s greatest investors think of each security.

We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see the details here).

Tesla Drops on Soft Delivery Numbers

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is off by 3.3% today after the company reported lower than expected second quarter deliveries of 14,370 vehicles, missing estimates of 16,000 vehicles. Tesla cited “the extreme production ramp in Q2 and the high mix of customer-ordered vehicles still on trucks and ships at the end of the quarter” as reasons for the shortfall. Elon Musk and company still expect to produce and ship 50,000 vehicles in the second half of 2016, however. Of the 766 elite funds that we track, 39 owned $1.08 billion in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) positions on March 31, up from 29 funds with $837.44 million worth of holdings on December 31.

Hershey Showing Signs of Vulnerability

Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) and Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) are trending after Reuters published an article stating that Hershey’s “once impenetrable defenses are now looking weaker” given the investigation into the charitable trust that runs the company. The trust, which owns 81% of Hershey’s voting stock, is being probed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office for how it spends its money. The AG’s office has noted that the Trust fired its executive vice president this year for wire fraud concerning campaign contributions. The Attorney General has also asked for three more of the Trust’s employees to resign for other reasons. The Trust unanimously rejected Mondelez’s takeover bid of around $107 per share last week. 63 elite funds had long positions in Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) at the end of the first quarter, up by six funds from the end of 2015. Meanwhile 21 funds owned shares of Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) at the end of March, up by three from the start of the quarter.

On the next page we find out why Aetna and Facebook have investors talking today.

Aetna Said to be Planning Divestments

Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) shares are in the spotlight after Bloomberg reported that the insurer is said to be planning to divest several billion dollars worth of assets to appease regulators over antitrust worries concerning the insurer’s proposed merger with Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM). Any divestment would only be official after the merger is complete. The merger between Aetna and Humana is expected to yield considerable synergies. 63 elite funds that we track were long Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) as of the most recent 13F reporting period, while 64 were long Humana.

Israel’s Interior Minister Criticizes Facebook 

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares are off by 0.6% today after Israel’s Public Minister for Security said the following during a television interview on Saturday:

“Facebook today, which brought an amazing, positive revolution to the world, sadly, we see this since the rise of ISIS and the wave of terror, it has simply become a monster. Facebook today sabotages, it should be known, sabotages the work of the Israeli police, because when the Israeli police approach them, and it is regarding a resident of Judea and Samaria, Facebook does not cooperate.”

Facebook has indirectly responded by saying there is no room for content that promotes terrorism, hate speech, violence, or direct threats on its platform. 164 elite funds in our system owned shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at the end of the first quarter, up by 18 funds over the course of the quarter.

Disclosure: None