Why Traders Are Selling These Five Tanking Stocks?

All three major indexes are in the red on Wednesday after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported a disappointing quarter. Among the stocks that are deep-in-the-red along with Apple are MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD), Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON), Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX), Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (NASDAQ:GT), and Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HAWK). In this article, we find out why traders have sold each stock and analyze how the smart money is positioned towards them.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

MannKind Down on At Market Issuance Sales Agreement

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) is 6% lower today after the company entered into an at the market issuance sales agreement with FBR Capital Markets yesterday that allowed MannKind to issue and sell shares of its common stock with an aggregate offering value of up to $50 million. MannKind will pay FBR 3% of the gross proceeds of the sales price per share of common stock sold through FBR. The company will also pay up to $25,000 in other fees. A total of 11 out of the 786 elite funds that we track owned shares of MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) at the end of the fourth quarter.

Intrexon Lower on Short-Seller Report

After publishing a scathing article over the company last week, the research firm/short-seller Spotlight Research published parts 2-8 of its expose on Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) on Wednesday. Among the many things Spotlight Research noted is the fact that the author thinks that ‘revenues may be overstated by ~50% through transactions with related parties’ and that ‘biofuels are a pipe dream’. Shares of Intrexon are down 6.5% on back of the report. The number of investors holding shares of Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON)  among those that we track rose by two quarter-over-quarter to 19 during the last quarter of 2015.

On the next page, we will take a closer look at the developments that sent lower shares of Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, and Blackhawk Network Holdings.