Why These Stocks Are in Spotlight Today

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 On the first day of the trading week, crude futures are 2.4% in the green while the S&P 500 and other equity index futures are roughly flat. Among the stocks trending today are Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB), Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), and Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR). Let’s take a closer look at why each stock is trending and see what the investors we track at think about these five companies.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track almost 800 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Gannett Raises Its Bid for Tribune

Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI) raised its bid for Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB) to $15 in cash per share from the previous $12.25 on Monday as the owner of USA today tries to consolidate the newspaper sector. Gannett raised its offer after analyzing certain information revealed in Tribune’s financials filed on May 5. After reviewing the information, Gannett came away with greater confidence that a merger between the two could yield additional operation improvements that could justify the transaction. Although Tribune’s board of directors previously rejected Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI)’s $12.25 per share offer and its management recently adopted a poison pill plan to prevent hostile takeovers, it is uncertain whether they will reject Gannett’s newly enhanced one. Some of the newspaper’s shareholders would like Tribune Publishing Co (NYSE:TPUB) to at least negotiate. Tribune shares opened up 20% higher on the news. Out of the 786 top funds that Insider Monkey tracks in its database, 16 funds owned $203.12 million of Gannett Co while 9 funds owned $48.22 million worth of Tribune’s stock at the end of December.

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On the next page, we will take a look at Terex Corporation, Bank of America Corp, and Caesars Entertainment Corp.

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