A Closer Look at Five Trending Stocks: Wells Fargo, LendingClub, Microsemi, and More

Although the Dow and the S&P are in the green, the NASDAQ is lagging a bit due to Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB)’s warning that its growth might slow in the future.

In this article, let’s examine why five stocks, Microsemi Corporation (NASDAQ:MSCC), Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS), Inteliquent Inc (NASDAQ:IQNT), Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), and LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC) are in the spotlight. In addition, we will assess how smart money funds tracked by us were positioned towards them at the end of June.

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).

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Microsemi Corporation (NASDAQ:MSCC) shares have jumped 11% after Bloomberg reported that Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) is said to have expressed takeover interest for the company. Given that there has been a string of M&A deals in the semi-conductor sector, the news that Skyworks is interested in buying Microsemi isn’t particularly surprising. After receiving the news, Microsemi is said to have commissioned Bank of Montreal to try and get competitive bids from other companies. As with all M&A news, there is no guarantee of a deal and the auction evaluation process is said to be in the early stages. Of the 749 funds that we track, 19 funds were long Microsemi Corporation (NASDAQ:MSCC) and 33 funds held shares of Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) at the end of the second quarter.

Inteliquent Inc (NASDAQ:IQNT) has surged over 35% after the company agreed to sell itself to an affiliate of the PE firm GTCR LLC for $23 per share in cash, which represents a total transaction value of $800 million. The board of directors of Inteliquent have unanimously approved the transaction and the deal is expected to close in the first half of next year. A total of 11 funds from our database were long Inteliquent Inc (NASDAQ:IQNT) at the end of June, down by four funds from the previous quarter.

On the next page, we uncover why the spotlight is shining on Wells Fargo & Co, and LendingClub Corp.

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) is trending after the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC is conducting a review on whether the bank may have violated rules concerning investor disclosures in relation to Wells Fargo’s previous shady sales tactic scandal. Given that several senators on the Hill are incensed at the bank, it isn’t surprising that regulators would want to take a deeper look at Wells Fargo. Despite the news, shares of Wells Fargo are in the green today because the SEC probe is said to be at an ‘early stage’ and that many investors believe the bank is a good long term holding as the public eventually forgets about the scandal. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owned around 480 million shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) at the end of June.

LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC) has popped 5% after after Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette upgraded the stock to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Equal Weight’ and set a $7 price target. Based on his surveys and market research, Faucette thinks that Lending Club’s outlook has stabilized and that its stock is inexpensive. The analyst believes that Lending Club offers attractive risk/reward in relation to its long-term potential. The number of funds from our database with holdings in LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC) inched up by one quarter-over-quarter to 24 at the end of June.

Disclosure: None