Here’s Why Alibaba Group Holdings, Alphabet, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Are in Spotlight Today

Executive Resigns

Another Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) executive has announced his departure, as the overhaul among the company’s leaders continues. Bill Maris, the founder of Google’s venture capital arm, has left the tech giant to focus on a smaller business. With $2.4 billion at its disposal, Google Ventures backed more than 300 small businesses over the years, among them resounding names like Uber or Magic Leap, a developer of augmented reality headsets. Mr. Maris will be replaced by David Krane, who was already managing the fund’s day-to-day operations. At the end of the first quarter, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the most popular stock among the hedge funds followed by Insider Monkey, as 155 of them had the company’s Class A shares and 142 funds held Class C shares.

Alibaba Is On A Roll

It’s all smiles for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) shareholders this morning, as the e-commerce giant continues to thrive despite increasing worries about China’s economy. The company’s results in the most recent quarter have easily topped analysts’ estimates, with revenues climbing 59% year over year to $4.84 billion. Alibaba also posted a profit of $1.14 billion or $0.74 per share, when adjusted for one time gains and costs. Investors, on the other hand, were expecting $0.62 a share on $4.52 billion in revenue. The company saw a 38% growth in its core business, registering 434 million annual active buyers, up 18% from a year earlier, while its cloud-computing business grew 156% year over year as the number of paying customers rose to 577,000. The hedge fund sentiment towards Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) cooled down a bit during the first three months of 2016, as the number of long positions dropped to 67 at the end of March from 77 registered a quarter before.

Macy’s Steps Up Turnaround Efforts

Investors are cheering Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) latest move, as shares jumped by 15%. Declining sales and falling foot traffic have prompted the management to take some drastic measures in order to turn the company around. Macy’s has announced it will close 100 more stores, roughly 15% of its store base, early next year and focus more on its online operations. The news comes after another disappointing quarter, which saw a 4% decline in total sales while consumer spending in the US rose 4.2% in the second quarter. The company posted $5.87 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings of $0.54 per share, while analysts had projected $0.45 per share on the back of $5.75 billion in revenue. Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) is also looking to offload a part of its real estate portfolio, under pressure from Jeffrey Smith‘s Starboard Value. The activist investors holds 3.92 million shares of Macy’s, as reported in its latest 13F filing.

Disclosure: none.