Here’s Why Novavax Inc. (NVAX), United States Steel Corporation (X) and Three Other Stocks Are Gaining Ground on Monday

Market is being bullish trend ahead of an important Fed meeting. Oil prices are expected to show an uptick, giving a fillip to the markets.

Among the stocks that are trading higher that the broader market are Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX), United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X), Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM), Tech Data Corp (NASDAQ:TECD), and Avent Inc. (NYSE:AVT). Let’s take a closer look at the news that sent these stocks higher today and assess the hedge fund sentiment towards each company in question.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 740 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see more details about our small-cap strategy).

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Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)’s stock showed marginal recovery today after its deep slump at the end of the last week (see article). To put it briefly, the drop was prompted by the company’s failure in meeting endpoints in a late-stage clinical trial for one of its key lung infection vaccines. The drug candidate is being developed for treating the respiratory syncytial virus infection, which is an influenza-like respiratory infectious disease. It also failed to demonstrate efficiency during the trial. However, today the stock is trading nearly 10% in the green as some investors probably considered that the stock was oversold and decided to buy on the dip. Among the funds we track, 16 funds held $70 million worth of Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX)’s stock in aggregate at the end of June, having amassed 3.60% of its outstanding stock, compared to 18 investors that held $59 million worth of shares a quarter earlier.

United States Steel Corporation (X)’s stock is in the spotlight as the company is rumored to be considering sale of its European subsidiary, U.S. Steel Kosice. Earlier this year, Bloomberg had suggested that Slovak government had shown interest in acquiring its Slovakian factory. However, at that time, United States Steel Corporation had assured the government that they had no offers worthy of consideration. Today, shares of United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) have gained over 5% to $16.79. Among the funds we track, 26 funds held $403 million worth of United States Steel Corporation’s stock in aggregate at the end of June, having amassed 16.30% of its outstanding stock, compared to 28 investors that held $230 million worth of shares a quarter earlier.

Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:TSM)’s stock is trading around 4% in the green following the strong reception received by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 7, for which Taiwan Semiconductors supplies processors. The stock has also received a rating upgrade from Daiwa Capital Markets, which raised the rating to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’. The number of funds from our database long Taiwan Semiconductor amounted to 26 at the end of June. The total value of their holdings stood at $2 billion, down from $2.04 billion held by 30 funds at the end of previous quarter.

Shares of Tech Data Corp (NASDAQ:TECD) and Avent Inc. (NYSE:AVT) have surged by over 16% and 6%, respectively, after the companies announced that Tech Data will acquire Avent’s IT Solutions Group for $2.6 billion. The deal, which includes $2.4 billion in cash and the rest in shares, will help Tech Data Corp in expanding its reach in Asia. At the end of June 16 funds we track held $171 million of Tech Data Corp’s shares, compared to 15 funds holding $311 million of stock a quarter earlier. In Avent, 22 funds amassed shares worth $732 million at the end of June, compared to 18 funds and $726 million, respectively, a quarter earlier.

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