Fresh Earnings Reports Have Investors Jabbering About These 5 Stocks

U.S. futures are up this morning following the release of the Labor Department’s jobs report, which did not disappoint in the slightest, as the U.S. economy created 255,000 jobs in July, easily surpassing expectations of 180,000 jobs. Unemployment stayed put at 4.9%.

While investors were awaiting that news, they were also pouring over the earnings released by dozens of companies after the market close yesterday. In this article we’ll take a look at five of those companies, Motorola, Activision Blizzard, Post Holdings, Priceline, and Symantec, and see how the market has reacted to their results. We’ll also use SEC filings to see how top hedge funds have been trading them.

We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see more details here).

marcello farina/Shutterstock.com

Solid Quarter For Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) reported second quarter financial results that exceeded expectations yesterday. The company posted a 4.5% increase in revenue to $1.43 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $0.90 per share in earnings and $1.39 billion in revenue. For the current quarter, the company said it expects revenue growth of 6%-to-7% and earnings in the range of $1.17-to-$1.22 per share. Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI)’s Board of Directors has also approved the buyback of an additional $2 billion worth of its shares. The company is all that remains from Motorola Inc., the wireless communications manufacturer that has been disassembled over the past several years and is now acting mainly as a provider of public-safety systems and services.

Hedge fund sentiment towards Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) improved significantly over the course of the first quarter, as the number of funds with long bets on the stock reached 32 at the end of March, from 22 registered a quarter before.

Earnings Beat for Post Holdings

Solid fiscal third quarter performance has investors talking about Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) this morning. The packaged foods company reported profit of $3.3 million or $0.62 per share for the quarter, when adjusted for one-time gains and costs, topping analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.47 per share. Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST) also reported $1.25 billion in revenue, up by 3.3% year-over-year.

At the end of March, roughly 30% of Post Holdings’ common stock was held by 34 hedge funds in our system, up from 31 at the end of December. Billionaire John Paulson was among those holding a stake in Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST), as his fund Paulson & Co indicated ownership of 3.68 million shares of the company in its 13F filing for the period.

Turn the page to find out why investors are buzzing about the remaining three stocks.

Priceline Making Healthy Gains on Mixed Results

Shares of Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) are up by nearly 6% in pre-market trading despite the company posting mixed second quarter results. The company said it registered revenue of $2.56 billion and adjusted earnings of $13.93 per share for the quarter, while analysts had predicted $2.60 billion in revenue and earnings of $12.67 per share. The online travel platform registered a 19% increase in gross bookings despite fears that recent troubles in Europe would have a negative impact on the travel industry. While travelers have avoided destinations like France and Belgium that suffered recent terrorist attacks, they have instead flocked to other destinations like Spain and Portugal, the company said. For the current quarter, Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) expects earnings of between $28.30 and $29.80 per share. One of the most popular stocks among the hedge funds in our system, Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) could be found in the portfolios of 87 of them, up from 85 a quarter earlier.

Improved Forward Guidance

Strong demand for its security products has helped Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) beat analysts’ revenue projections and issue forward guidance that also exceeded expectations. The software company posted revenue of $884 million, topping analysts’ estimates of $877 million, and adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share, also ahead of Wall Street’s projections of $0.26 per share. Cost-cutting measures have also had a major impact on the company’s bottom-line, as Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) managed to reduce its operating expenses to $629 million from $671 million a year earlier. Back in May, the company announced plans to reduce its workforce by 10% and shut down some of its facilities. For the current quarter, the company said that it expects adjusted revenue of $960 million-to-$990 million, exceeding analysts’ forecasts of $878.2 million. Hedge fund interest in Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) rose during the first quarter, as the number of hedge funds that we track with long positions in the stock rose to 33 at the end of March from 29 three months earlier.

Warcraft Dev Has Big Quarter

Video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) is on a roll at the moment, as the company’s financial results for the second quarter easily beat Wall Street’s forecasts. Adjusted revenue came in at $1.61 billion, up by 122% year-over-year, while earnings jumped to $0.45 per share, up from $0.31 per share reported a year ago. Analysts had estimated earnings of $0.42 per share on the back of $1.46 billion in revenue. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) also raised its outlook for the fiscal year to $6.4 billion in revenue and earnings of $1.83 per share.

“With Overwatch’s incredibly successful launch, Call of Duty’s record first half performance, and Candy Crush’s continued growth as key drivers of our overall performance, we delivered a record Q2,” commented Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.

At the end of the first quarter, 52 of the funds followed by Insider Monkey had Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) in their equity portfolios, down from 53 registered three months earlier. It ranked as the second-most popular video game stock among those hedge funds.

Disclosure: None