Why These Five Stocks Are Trending on Tuesday

With the earnings season ongoing, the US stock market is mixed with Dow Jones trading lower, while S&P 500 and NASDAQ have inched up.

Among the stocks traders are talking about are BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX), Mobileye NV (NYSE:MBLY), and Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY). Let’s examine why each stock is in the spotlight and see how the investors that we track at Insider Monkey are positioned towards them.

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BP Whiffs on Earnings

Although crude prices were sharply higher in the second quarter versus the first quarter, BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) nevertheless missed both profit and revenue estimates for the three months ended June 30. During the quarter, BP earned an adjusted $0.23 per share on revenue of $47.28 billion, missing the consensus estimates by $0.05 and $2.94 billion, respectively. Revenue fell by 25% year-over-year and BP reported a replacement loss of $2.25 billion due to accounting charges related to the oil spill in 2010 and weaker refining margins. The stock has declined by 1.6% in the morning session. The number of funds from our database with holdings in BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) rose by two quarter-over-quarter to 34 at the end of March.

Valero Beats, Shares Inch Up by 2.4%

Although BP’s refining margins may have been soft, Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)‘s results nevertheless came in ahead of expectations. For the second quarter, Valero earned $1.07 per share and reported revenue of $19.58 billion, versus analyst estimates of $1.03 per share in profit and $16.79 billion in sales. The new export laws helped pad Valero’s results, as the refiner exported a second quarter record of 396,000 barrels per day of diesel and gasoline. Management also returned $683 million of capital back to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management owned over 4.8 million shares in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) at the end of the first quarter, according to its latest 13F filing.

On the next page, we examine CONSOL Energy, Mobileye NV, and Eli Lilly and Co.
CONSOL Rises Despite Soft Results

The market is in a forgiving mood when it comes to CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX). Although the coal and natural gas company reported a second-quarter loss of $0.21 per share on sales of $285.8 million, versus estimates of a loss of $0.18 per share on $566.68 million in revenue, shares of CONSOL are 2.6% in the green as investors look past the soft results. Given the rally in natural gas, and the potential prospect of a Trump Presidency, there are more reasons to own CONSOL Energy now that there were one quarter ago. A total of 33 funds from our database have a bullish position in CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) as of the end of March.

Mobileye Drops on Tesla News

Although Mobileye NV (NYSE:MBLY) may have turned in a solid quarter with EPS of $0.17 on revenue of $83.48 million (beating estimates by $0.02 per share for the bottom line and exceeding the top-line by $6.17 million), shares of the company are more than 12% lower on news that the company’s partnership with Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is closer to the end. According to various sources, Tesla won’t be using any new versions of Mobileye products beyond the currently-in-use EyeQ3. Tesla has received bad publicity from its self-driving feature which has led to several high profile accidents in recent weeks. The company will need to improve its product for autonomous driving to go mainstream. According to our data, smart money investors were less optimistic on Mobileye and 26 funds tracked by us had a bullish position in Mobileye NV (NYSE:MBLY) at the end of the first quarter, down by seven funds from the previous quarter.

Eli Lilly Reports Solid Quarter

Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY) showed why it is one of the most widely-held dividend stocks in the healthcare sector after reporting earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $5.4 billion for the second quarter. Given the strong and relatively inelastic demand, Eli Lilly’s earnings were in-line with analyst estimates, while the drug company’s revenues beat the expectations by $250 million. 2016 guidance is relatively unchanged, with management continuing to expect adjusted EPS of $3.50 to $3.60 on sales of $20.6 billion to $21.1 billion. At the end of March, 57 funds owned $3 billion worth of Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY)’s stock, which accounted for 3.80% of the float, versus 54 funds and $2.08 billion, respectively, a quarter earlier.

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