Why Traders Are Talking About Chevron, Adobe, Petrobras, and More

After being range-bound for the last few weeks, crude promises to be a little bit more volatile in the near-term following today’s release of the EIA inventory numbers and the September 26-28 Russia/OPEC meeting.

Given the catalysts ahead, it’s not surprising that traders are talking about energy stocks today. In this article, we’ll dig a little deeper into the events causing Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS), Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E), and Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) to be in the spotlight and use the latest 13F data to see what hedge funds think of each stock.

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Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) is in the spotlight after the biotech surged by 12% on Tuesday on strong volume. Although no fundamental news drove Tuesday’s bullish price action, the stock has increased before on takeover speculation and likely did so yesterday. Analysts and writers have previously speculated that Clovis might be interesting to companies such as Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), among others, due to rucaparib’s potential (along with the other drug candidates in Clovis’ pipeline). Given the historical poor performance of buying takeover rumor stocks, there is no guarantee that the bullish price action in Clovis will continue, or end up paying off. Mitchell Blutt‘s Consonance Capital Management initiated a new position of over 2.9 million shares in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) in the second quarter.

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) is 6% in the green after the software company reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter. For the period, Adobe earned $0.75 per share, versus estimates of $0.73, while revenue came in at $1.46 billion for the three months, up by 19.7% year-over-year, and $10 million ahead of the consensus. Guidance was also strong, with Adobe’s management expecting fiscal year 2016 adjusted EPS of $2.94-to-$3.00 on revenue of $5.8 billion-to-$5.85 billion. 58 funds had a long position in Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) at the end of the second quarter, down by five funds from the end of the first quarter.

On the next page, we’ll examine why Chevron, Eni SpA, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras are in the spotlight.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E), and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) are trending after various media outlets reported that Nigeria is suing the three energy companies, in addition to several others, for a grand total of $12.7 billion for illegally exporting crude to the United States between 2011 and 2014. According to sources close to the case, Nigeria is accusing Chevron, Eni, Petrobras, and others of not declaring more than 57 million barrels of crude exports during that time.

Given that the government of Nigeria is under intense financial pressure from the low crude prices, any extra fees resulting from the lawsuit would certainly help the country’s fiscal situation. A formal trial for the case will begin next week. According to our database of 749 successful funds who filed 13Fs for the June 30 reporting period, the smart money liked Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) the most out of the three energy stocks, as 47 funds reported holding long stakes in the company as of the end of June.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) was next, with 23 funds long its shares at the end of June, while Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE:E) was last with just six funds tracked by Insider Monkey owning shares of the company at the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None