Here’s Why MGM Resorts, TeamHealth, Alibaba, and More Are in the Spotlight

Although it’s still the middle of earnings season, volatility is almost non-existent on the Street, as all three major indexes are close to flat as investors play it safe with the election looming, as well as the October jobs report coming out later this week.

In this article, we’ll examine five stocks that are capturing intense interest from investors and making bigger moves today, which are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), and TeamHealth Holdings Inc (NYSE:TMH). We’ll also see how hedge funds were positioned in each stock using the latest 13F filings.

At Insider Monkey, we track over 700 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details).

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is in the spotlight today after the company consolidated its disparate media assets of Youku Tudou, Alibaba Pictures Group, and others into one division, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group. The former CEO of UCWeb, Yu Yongfu, will be the CEO of the group. In addition, Alibaba has also announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.48 billion) initiative to produce more media projects. Alibaba’s move reflects how traditional media and the internet are merging and shows how the e-commerce giant’s management is actively adjusting to the changing landscape. As for hedge fund ownership of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management raised its stake in the company by 2% in the third quarter to 3.28 million shares on September 30.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shares are 1.25% in the green after Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘Conviction Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ and hiked his price target on it to $118 per share from $108. Mehta likes Chevron’s expected “strong volume improvement” over the next few years, as well as the corresponding free cash flow increase, which the analyst thinks will more than cover the company’s current dividend. Chevron reported better-than-expected third quarter results last week. Of the 749 elite funds we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 47 owned $1.96 billion in Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shares on June 30, compared to 46 funds with $1.71 billion in holdings on March 31.

On the next page we’ll examine why the spotlight is on Exxon Mobil, MGM Resorts, and TeamHealth Holdings this morning.

Although Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs upgraded Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is 1% in the red after the analyst double-downgraded Exxon to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Conviction Buy’. Mehta also trimmed his Exxon price target to $93 per share from the previous $98. Mehta doesn’t see many catalysts in the near-term that could send Exxon’s price higher, as the company has been “hesitant to pursue large-scale M&A” which could have improved its growth prospects. Exxon reported mixed earnings on Friday. 60 funds in our system had a long position in Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) at the end of the second quarter, unchanged from the end of the first quarter.

MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is in the spotlight today after the company’s CEO, James Murren, said that the casino operator is willing to invest as much as $9.5 billion on a mega casino resort in Japan if The Land of the Rising Sun legalizes gambling. Japan’s legislators are expected to consider the gambling matter by the end of 2016. If regulators give the green light and MGM goes ahead with its plan, Murren believes an REIT structure would be the best vehicle to finance the plan. The number of funds in our database with MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) holdings rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 59 at the end of June.

TeamHealth Holdings Inc (NYSE:TMH) shares have spiked by 15% after the company agreed to sell itself to Blackstone for $43.50 in cash per share, or around $6.1 billion. The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. In addition, Barry Rosenstein‘s JANA Partners, which owns around 8% of the company, is also in favor of the deal. 25 funds were bullish on TeamHealth Holdings Inc (NYSE:TMH) at the end of the second quarter, up by three funds quarter-over-quarter.

Disclosure: None