Here’s Why Microsoft, Salesforce.com, and Three Other Stocks Are Trending Today

Crude futures are in the green this morning after yesterday’s route. All three indexes are also relatively quiet after Thursday’s down and up day.

Among the stocks trending today are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX), KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), and salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM). Let’s find out why each stock is in the spotlight and see what the funds in our database think about them.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

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Microsoft Goes Where No Big Tech Company Has Gone Before

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in the spotlight today after the company announced it is partnering with the cannabis-centric software firm Kind Financial. Kind provides software that helps cannabis growers to track inventory, handle transactions, and remain in compliance with laws. By working with Kind, Microsoft will be the first tech giant to break into the fast growing legal weed sector. The number of funds from our database with holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 144 at the end of March.

Lumber Liquidators Settles with CPSC

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) shares have jumped after the company settled with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission over the company’s past sales of formaldehyde-laced flooring. Under the terms of the settlement, Lumber Liquidators won’t issue a recall and has agreed not to sell Chinese laminate flooring ever again. The regulator did not find unsafe levels of formaldehyde as some bears thought. Among the funds we track, 14 funds owned $39.7 million of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) and accounted for 11.20% of the float on March 31, versus 15 funds and $39.53 million, respectively, on December 31.

On the next page, we examine Barrick Gold Corporation, KKR & Co, and salesforce.com.

Analysts Root for Barrick Gold to do M&A

Analysts at J.P. Morgan think Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) should consider doing some M&A deals to replace its reserves and maintain its production in the future. Analyst John Bridges said: “Barrick is the world’s largest gold miner and – like a supertanker – has to move early to avoid bad outcomes”. Given the rising gold spot prices, big and medium sized M&A deals could be more acceptable for shareholders as gold is no longer a declining commodity anymore. A total of 49 funds tracked by us owned shares of Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) at the end of the first quarter, up by nine funds from the previous quarter.

KKR Close to Complete Deal with Pemex

KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) is trending today after sources report that the private equity firm and Mexico’s Pemex are close to completing a $1.2 billion sale and leaseback deal. Due to low oil prices, Pemex is in need of money, and the company will raise some money by selling some of its infrastructure assets to KKR, which KKR will rent back to Pemex. Overall, 27 elite funds owned shares of KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) at the end of March.

Salesforce.com Was In the Running For LinkedIn

According to Bloomberg, salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) ‘was a rival potential bidder’ for LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) before Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) bought the company for over $26 billion in cash. Salesforce.com had previously retained Goldman Sachs Group as an advisor for a potential bid. The cloud software company could have used LinkedIn’s massive information set on its business users to further improve its product offerings. A total of 63 funds from our database owned shares of salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) at the end of March, up by two from the end of December.

Disclosure: none