Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Cabela’s Inc. (CAB) & More: Here’s Why These Stocks Are on the Move Today

The US stock market is trading slightly lower on Monday after a brief rally on Friday and following news that the UK plans to trigger Article 50 of the EU Treaty by the end of March 2017.

Meanwhile, a number of stocks are in the spotlight today, including Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Cabela’s Inc. (NYSE:CAB), Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG), Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU), and Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE:WGO). Let’s take a closer look at the latest news involving these companies and assess the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

An everyday investor doesn’t have the same resources and capabilities to analyze different publicly-traded companies as hedge funds do. This is why it is a good idea to see what stocks hedge funds like the most and try to imitate some of their bullish moves in an attempt to reap market-beating returns. At Insider Monkey, we follow the activity of several hundred of the best-performing hedge funds as part of our strategy. We analyze their 13F filings and use the data to see what stocks they are collectively bullish on. Through extensive research we have determined that the best approach to outperform the broader indices is to follow hedge funds into their top small-cap ideas. In our backtests, a portfolio of the 15 most popular small-cap stocks generated monthly alpha of 81 basis points, versus 0.7 percentage points posted by hedge funds’ top large- and mega-cap picks (see more details here).

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Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is in the spotlight as reports emerged that the tech giant plans to launch the first smartphones under its own design and brand at its upcoming event, scheduled for October 4. The reports suggest that Alphabet’s Google will debut two phones namely Pixel and Pixel XL, which will run on Android 7.1 and will replace its Nexus phones, as well as a number of other devices. The new phones will represent Google’s another attempt to get into the smartphone hardware market and will allow it to compete more directly with Apple. Among the funds we track, 135 funds held $11.55 billion worth of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s class A stock in aggregate at the end of June, having amassed 2.40% of its outstanding stock, compared to 142 investors that held $14.90 billion worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Cabela’s Inc. (NYSE:CAB)’s shares are over 14% in the green following news that Boss Pro Shops will acquire it in a deal valued at $5.5 billion, or $65.50 per share in cash. Both companies expect the deal, subject to approval by Cabela’s shareholders and regulators, to be closed by the first half of 2017. The number of funds from our database long Cabela’s Inc. (NYSE:CAB) increased to 27 from 21 during the second quarter, while the total value of their holdings surged to $661 million from $446 million.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)’s stock has slid by over 6% amid news about its new contract with Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU). The deal involves Transocean Barents, a harsh-environment, ultra-deepwater floater, which may also act as a semi-submersible rig. The contract’s length is 15 months at a dayrate of $260,000. The contract backlog, excluding mobilization, has been estimated at $119 million. The rig, located in offshore Canada, is likely to start operating in the third quarter of 2017. A total of 32 funds from our database have positions in Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG), with a total value of about $720 million as of the end of June. Similarly, 25 investors amassed around $1.49 billion of Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) stock at the end of June.

Shares of Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE:WGO) have surged by over 25% after the company announced its purchase of Grand Design Recreational Vehicle, a towable RV-maker for $500 million. The company expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and profit margins and the combined entity is expected to have proforma revenue of $1.4 billion. At the end of June, 13 investors tracked by us reported long positions in Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE:WGO) with a total value of $84 million as of the end of June, compared to 11 funds holding $86 million worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Disclosure: none