Why Traders Are Watching Manhattan Associates, Meridian Bioscience, Puma Biotechnology, Tesla and More

With earnings season in full swing, volatility in the indices has trended a bit higher compared to that of previous weeks. Among the stocks that are showing considerable volatility in their own share prices this morning are Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH), Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO), Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS), and Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI).

We’ll take a look at why the four stocks are on the move, and also analyze why traders are watching Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) today. In addition, we’ll use the latest 13F data to see how hedge funds were positioned among the stocks.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 750 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) shares are off by 8% after the company reported mixed results for its third quarter. For the three months, Manhattan Associates earned $0.50 per share on revenue of $152.2 million, beating the Street’s profit estimate by $0.04 per share, but missing its top-line expectation by $3.95 million. As for guidance, the company anticipates adjusted EPS of $1.82-to-$1.84 for the full year, up from the previous guidance range of $1.78-to-$1.81. Revenue for the year is seen coming in between $603 million and $609 million, down from the previous range of $615 million-to-$620 million. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies cut its stake in Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) by 18% in the second quarter to 1.78 million shares at the end of June.

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) shares are 11% in the red in extended market trading after the company announced its preliminary fiscal 2016 operating results and issued fiscal 2017 revenue and earnings guidance. For its fiscal 2016, the company expects diluted earnings per share of $0.75-to-$0.76 on revenue of $196 million, up by 1% year-over-year. Meridian expects fourth quarter sales to clock in at $47 million, due to a combination of competitive pressures, distributor order patterns, and other factors. As for fiscal 2017, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be between $0.81 and $0.85 and net revenue to be $205 million-to-$210 million. Of the 749 hedge funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 19 were long $58.22 million of Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) shares at the end of June, which accounted for 7.10% of the float.

On the next page we’ll find out why investors are watching Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Puma Biotechnology, and Tesla Motors.

Traders are watching Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) after the company announced a proposed offering of common and preferred stock. Although no specific size was given in the initial press release, Sunesis intends to grant underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 15% of the number of shares of common stock offered. The company plans to use the net proceeds for the clinical development of SNS-062, the regulatory development of vosaroxin in Europe, and for general corporate purposes. The number of funds that we track with long positions in Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) stood at 11 at the end of June.

Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI) is nearly 6% in negative territory today after the company announced that it is commencing a public offering of $150 million of common stock. The company also intends to grant underwriters a 30-day option to buy $22.5 million worth of shares to cover over-allotments. The exact pricing of the public underwritten offering was not disclosed in the initial press release. 15 funds in our system had a long position in Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI) at the end of June.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is in the spotlight after the company disclosed on the Model 3 website that production begins mid-2017. The company previously had production listed as beginning in late-2017 on the same page earlier yesterday. In addition, Tesla’s spokesperson reassured investors that deliveries of the Model 3 will begin in late-2017, but that the delivery estimate for new reservations will be mid-2018 or later. Given Tesla’s ambition of becoming a mass-market auto producer, the success of the $35,000 Model 3 will depend in large part on when it is produced (and how many Tesla can produce) and ultimately delivered. Mike Masters‘ Masters Capital Management established a new stake of 97,375 shares in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) during the second quarter.

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