Why These 5 Stocks Are Moving On High Volume Today

U.S. Bancorp Beats 

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) shares have inched up by 1.77% after the bank turned in better than expected results for the second quarter. For the period, U.S. Bancorp earned $0.83 per share on sales of $5.45 billion, beating the consensus estimates by $0.03 per share and $260 million respectively. Revenue rose by 8.1% year-over-year, led by average loan growth of 8.1% and average deposit growth of 7.6%. The company turned in an excellent efficiency ratio of 54.9% and management returned 77% of second quarter earnings to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) makes up around 2.6% of the equity portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company led by billionaire Warren Buffett.

Downgrade of QUALCOMM

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets downgraded QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) to ‘Underperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ yesterday, and not surprisingly, shares of the mobile chip maker are 0.4% in the red today. The analysts have a $50 price target on Qualcomm, suggesting downside potential of nearly 10%, citing several potential negative catalysts on the horizon, including the expected shrinkage of the company’s licensing revenue going forward. 59 funds in our database were bullish on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) as of March 31, owning 5.8% of the company’s shares in aggregate.

Yahoo! Bidding Nearing an End

Traders are watching Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today after the New York Times reported that bidding for the company’s internet assets could wrap up next Monday. Once the final bids are in, Yahoo’s Board of Directors will decide which offer is the best for shareholders. The sale of Yahoo’s internet assets will help narrow the tech company’s conglomerate discount and could potentially send its stock price higher. According to our records, 97 elite funds were long Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) as of the end of the first quarter, a jump of 13 funds from the end of the previous quarter.

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