Here’s Why Tesla, Twitter, Total, and More Are Trending

On the day that will decide who the most powerful person in in the world will be for the next four years, the markets are surprisingly quiet, as volatility remains low on Wall Street.

In this article we’ll find out why Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), and Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) are each in the spotlight on this fateful day and use the latest 13F filings to judge hedge fund sentiment towards each of the stocks.

Our research 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).

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is in the spotlight today after it acquired a German engineering company that specializes in automated manufacturing techniques, Grohmann Engineering, for an undisclosed amount. Given that it has a very ambitious goal of producing 500,000 cars per year by 2018, Tesla needs all the help it can get, and having advanced automated production technology would certainly help. Due to various implementations of the latest tech at its Fremont Factory, Tesla has increased its production rate there by 400% in four years. Going forward, Tesla expects the Grohmann Engineering purchase to accelerate that rate. Of the 749 funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 36 were long Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) at the end of June, down by three from the end of the previous quarter.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) is 1.13% lower this morning after Keith Horowitz of Citi downgraded the investment bank to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’, citing Goldman’s rather full valuation at current price levels. Due to the stock’s rally since late-June, Horowitz doesn’t see much upside left in the near-term. The analyst did raise his price target on Goldman to $200 from $195 per share, however. 68 funds that we track owned $4.45 billion of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) on June 30, down slightly from 69 funds with $4.64 billion in shares on March 31.

On the next page, we’ll find out why traders are talking about Mylan, Twitter, and Total SA today.

Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) shares are 1.38% in the red today after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy called the FTC to review Mylan’s EpiPen business practices in relation to schools for possible anti-competitive behavior. The senators would like regulators to see if there were any violations of the law/regulations concerning Mylan’s exclusive contracts with schools that precluded the institutions from buying competing products. The number of funds in our system with holdings in Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) fell by seven quarter-over-quarter to 44 at the end of June.

Vine isn’t dead just yet. Although Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)‘s management have said that they will shut down the service, TechCrunch reports that there are bidders interested in buying it. Don’t expect any sale of Vine to meaningfully boost Twitter’s stock, however, as apparently some bids are below $10 million. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies raised its stake in Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) by 302% in the second quarter, to 3.16 million shares at the end of June.

Supermajor Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) is trending after the company confirmed that it is the first Western energy company to sign a significant deal with Iran since sanctions were lifted. According to the deal, Total will further develop its part of Iran’s largest gas field, South Pars. Total will have a 50.1% stake in the project, which, if all goes to plan, will produce 1.8 billion cf per day. Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) was held by 16 hedge funds in our database at the end of June, up by six quarter-over-quarter.

Disclosure: None