Why Wal-Mart, Facebook, and Three Other Stocks Are Trending Today

The market was shocked on Friday amid Labor Department data, which showed the creation of 38,000 jobs in May, significantly below the expected 162,000. Among the stocks in the spotlight today are Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), and Bazaarvoice Inc (NASDAQ:BV). Let’s take a closer look and see how the smart money is positioned in each stock.

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Through extensive research, we determined that imitating some of the picks of hedge funds and other institutional investors can help generate market-beating returns over the long run. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these investors, since they are usually less followed by the broader market and are less price-efficient. Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

Wal-Mart Shows Off Its Technical Side

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is pulling out all the stops in its battle to keep market-share against Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). In the city of Denver and another market, the company will soon test a grocery delivery service using Lyft and Uber to deliver groceries ordered online directly to the customer’s door. Wal-Mart expects to charge its customers a fee of between $7 to $10 for the service. If the experiment works, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) could have a big advantage in the battle for market share in last-mile delivery. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned more than 55 million shares at the end of March.

Time Warner Adjusts To Cable Cutting

The executives at Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX)‘s Warner Brothers division have formed a new unit to offer online video entertainment for those who have cut the cord and no longer pay for cable. The company’s Warner Brothers Digital Networks division will create new web channels, and work with Time Warner’s Turner and HBO to bring in more online revenue from customers. HBO already has an online offering, HBO NOW, that offers HBO content to internet connected users. David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital was one of the top holders of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) at the end of the first quarter.

On the next page, we examine Facebook, BP, and Bazaarvoice.