Arista Networks Inc (ANET), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) & Three Other Stocks That Have Been Unstoppable Lately

The US stock market is trading in the red today, correcting after several day of gains.

Meanwhile, a number of stocks have recently reached their 52-week highs, among them being Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:NUS), Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR), and Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR). Let’s take a look at the developments that pushed these stocks to these levels and see what the funds from our database think about the companies in question.

The smart money sentiment is an important metric that can be used to assess the long-term profitability of a stock. While there are thousands of stocks trading daily on the market, taking a look at what hedge funds think about certain companies can narrow down the search significantly. At Insider Monkey, we track more than 740 hedge funds, whose 13F filings we analyze as part of our small-cap strategy. Our research has shown that imitating a portfolio that includes the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds can outperform the market by as much as 95 basis points per month on average (see more details here).

Frank Gaertner / Shutterstock.com

Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET)’s stock yesterday touched its 52-week high of $85.99, despite the fact that earlier this week MKM Partners downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy, while the price target was also slashed from $81 to $79 apiece. However, on September 14, Deutsche Bank AG had increased the price target on Arista Networks’ stock to $85 from $80. Among the funds we track, 17 funds held $268 million worth of Arista Networks’ stock in aggregate at the end of June, having amassed 6.10% of its outstanding stock, compared to 26 investors that held $242 million worth of stock a quarter earlier.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock hit its all-time high of $805.89 in the previous trading session. The company stock also received a ‘Buy’ rating from Evercore ISI, which set the price target at $1,015. The rating has been given on the strength of the company’s potential in the cloud sector as well as in e-com market. The number of funds from our hedge fund database long Amazon.com was at 145 in the quarter ending June. The total value of their holdings stood at $19.82 billion, in comparison to $14.69 billion held by 133 funds at the end of previous quarter. This is almost 5.90% of its outstanding stocks.

Investors seem bullish on Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:NUS) following its optimistic forecast, as they pushed the stock to its 52-week high of $64.48 yesterday. The company expects its third-quarter revenue to be in-line or above the high end of its estimate of $560 million to $580 million. It is likely to get boost from demand growth in China. In addition, the stock has been upgraded by Jefferies, which reaffirmed its ‘Hold’ rating, but raised the price target to $61, up from $53. A total of 17 funds from our database have positions in Nu Skin Enterprises as of the end of June, compared to 15 investors a quarter earlier.

Caesars Entertainment Corp (NASDAQ:CZR) stock popped to its 52-week high of $10.84 in the previous trading session on news of a preliminary deal in its bankruptcy case. The stock is likely to maintain its upward trend. The company management announced an offer to reorganize bankrupt subsidiary Caesars Entertainment Operating Company by receiving an equity infusion of $954 million form private equity firms Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital. This infusion may add $1.6 billion to second-lien noteholders. A total of 21 investors we track hold about $319 million of Caesars Entertainment stock as of the end of , up  from 19 funds holding stock worth $270 million the previous quarter.

Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR) stock went up to its 52-week high of $29.40 yesterday after it received a price target upgrade from Needham & Company LLC on September 19. The analysts reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating and raised the price target to $36 from $32. On September 12, Stifel Nicolaus increased its price target to $33 from $28. At the end of June, 21 funds we track held $308 million worth of  Finisar Corporation stock, versus 27 funds holding $302 million in shares a quarter earlier.

Disclosure: none