Check Out Why These 4 Stocks Spiked This Morning

After a very bad start to the year, the markets have started to recuperate today, with all major U.S stock indexes up slightly. Among the stocks driving this rebound are Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL), Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP), and Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), all of which are up substantially in the early afternoon hours. Let’s take a look into the events which led to these spikes, as well as at how the hedge funds in our database feel about the companies involved.

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Back to Tuesday’s gainers, let’s take a look first at Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), which is trading up by over 22% today. Before the market opened, the small-cap server technology provider issued preliminary fiscal year 2016 second-quarter financial results above its prior guidance. Management now envisions revenue of between $637 million and $639 million and EPS of $0.69-to-$0.72 for the quarter, up from the previous guidance of $580 million-to-$630 million and $0.54-to-$0.64, respectively. The earnings call is scheduled for February 28.

Among the funds in our database, 14 disclosed long stakes in Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) as of the end of the third quarter of 2015, the same as of the end of the previous quarter. The most bullish seems to be Chuck Royce’s mutual fund, Royce & Associates, which declared holding 881,413 shares of the company, after tripling its exposure during the third quarter.

Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL), for its part, is up by about 11.3% today after management updated its fourth-quarter guidance on Monday evening. The retailer now anticipates net sales to surge by roughly 3.7%, at the low end of its previous guidance, which called for an increase of between 3.7% and 4.7%. On the other hand, EPS guidance was trimmed on the high end, to $1.44-to-$1.46 from previous guidance of from $1.44-to-$1.48.

Interestingly, Burlington Stores Inc (NYSE:BURL) is quite popular among institutional investors. Among the funds that we track, 39 were long the company as of the end of the third quarter, up from 38 following the second quarter. Moreover, these funds owned 20% of the company’s total shares on September 30, with Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group holding the largest stake, comprising 2.42 million shares, worth about $123.5 million.

On the next page, we will look into the reason behind the surges in the shares of Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) and Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN).

Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) is up by over 5% today after issuing strong guidance for 2016. The small-cap Irish biopharmaceutical company said it expects full-year revenue of $1.03 billion-to-$1.05 billion, versus its previous guidance of between $950 million and $975 million. Management explained that the increased guidance sought to reflect the company’s acquisition of Crealta Holdings, which is expected to close this week.

It appears that hedge funds really like Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP). 44 funds among those we keep track of held long stakes in the company as of the end of the third quarter, up from 43 a quarter earlier. Remarkably, these 44 firms owned roughly 35.7% of Horizon’s outstanding stock, with Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital holding almost 10% of the company’s shares alone, about 15.6 million in total.

Finally, there’s Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), which is up by about 7.7% percent in today’s trading session. No relevant news related to the company has surfaced today; however, on Monday afternoon, a press release informed that the retailer had presented four newly-renovated rooms to 400 teen members of the Keystone Club at the Hartley & Ruth Barker Branch of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale.

Aaron’s, Inc. (NYSE:AAN) also sports plenty of hedge fund support. The number of funds that were long the stock rose by more than 10% during the third quarter, to 32. Even after a 12% reduction to its holding, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC held the largest position in the company among those investors we follow, comprising more than 1.58 million Aaron’s shares.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.