Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are In Spotlight Today

Crude futures have blasted their way above the $50 resistance level today to trade over $51.30 per barrel. Sentiment around the commodity has markedly improved as more traders buy into OPEC’s tentative agreement to cut crude production come November.

In this article, we will analyze why five stocks, Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT), AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO), Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ:PRMW), and Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:MZOR), are on the move today. We will also discuss the hedge fund sentiment towards the companies in question.

Through extensive research, we determined that imitating some of the picks of hedge funds and other institutional investors can help generate market-beating returns over the long run. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these investors, since they are usually less followed by the broader market and are less price-efficient. Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

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Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) has inched up 1.4% after Wells Fargo gave the equity its thumbs up, upgrading the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’. Analyst Tom Nikic likes the stock because he thinks the ‘noise’ resulting from the Sports Authority bankruptcy is in the rear-view mirror and that the Under Armour’s growth prospects are strong, especially over the next 12-18 months. Nikic has a $44-$46 price target range, up from the previous $38-$42. Michael Hintze‘s CQS Cayman LP established a new position of more than 1.4 million shares of Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) in the second quarter.

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) shares are off by 8.4% after Raymond James analyst Budd Bugatch downgraded the stock to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Strong Buy’. Bugatch considers that shares of the company are fairly valued given the Havertys’ third-quarter sales numbers (released on Friday) in which total revenue rose only 0.8% year-over-year and comparable store sales inched up 1.2% year-over-year. Of the 749 funds we track, 10 funds owned $62.47 million worth of Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT)’s stock, which accounted for 15.70% of the float on June 30, versus 11 funds and $68.65 million, respectively, on March 31.

On the next page, we find out why AGCO Corporation, Primo Water Corporation, and Mazor Robotics Ltd – ADR are surging.