Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are on the Move on Thursday

The US stock market is mixed on Thursday with S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite trading up by 0.09% and 0.17%, respectively, while Dow Jones has inched down by 0.01%.

Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR), 58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA), Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB), and Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) are among the stocks that are in the spotlight today. In this article, we are going to take a look at the latest events surrounding these five companies, as well as present some smart money investors that are bullish on these companies.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 760 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backrests, 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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Shares of Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) are trading down after Evercore ISI downgraded the stock to ‘Sell’ from ‘Hold’ and cut the price target to $17 from $18. Rising competition from Snapchat and a declining user base are among the main reasons why investors should sell shares of the social media company, according to Evercore ISI. “As broadcasting capabilities permeate competing social platforms that are winning influence with TWTR users and advertisers, which recent traffic patterns and management commentary citing its ad pricing premium confirm, we see more risk than reward, particularly ahead of Snapchat’s anticipated monetization ramp this fall,” analyst Ken Sena wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. At the end of June, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies held 3.16 million shares of Twitter.

Shares of 58.com Inc (ADR) (NYSE:WUBA) have lost over 13% following the release of the company’s results for the second quarter. The company reported revenue of $297.82 million, which was lower than estimates of $303.42 million, but EPS of $0.15 was significantly higher than the expected net loss of $0.11 per share. Investors were also disappointed to see a third-quarter revenue guidance of $304 million to $311 million, which is below the consensus estimate of $343 million. Lei Zhang’s Hillhouse Capital Management reported ownership of 3.72 million shares in its 13F filing for the end of June.

On the next page, we are going to discuss Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB), and Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP).

Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS)’s stock is 3% in the red so far on Thursday, after the company reported revenue of $4.5 billion for the second quarter, missing analysts’ estimates by $20 million, while EPS of $0.12 was in line with expectations. The failed merger with Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP) has costed Staples $1 billion in charges. Staples also booked charges related to impairment of European goodwill and other assets in this quarter in addition to the termination fee. Among the investors in our database, Pzena Investment Management holds around 33.90 million shares of Staples according to its 13F filing for the end of June.

L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB)’s stock has advanced by 4.60% on the back of the company’s better-than-expected results for the second quarter. The company reported revenue of $2.89 billion, which topped estimates by $30 million, while EPS of $0.70 was higher than analysts’ forecasts of $0.59. For the third quarter, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) expects EPS to be in the range of $0.40 to $0.45, while full-year EPS guidance is between $3.79 and $3.94. During the second quarter, Alex Snow’s Lansdowne Partners increased its stake in L Brands by 27% to 11.07 million shares.

Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) has gained around 10% after Bloomberg reported that Retrophin might be interested in acquiring Raptor. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said that companies have not reached an agreement and other companies are also interested in buying Raptor pharmaceuticals. Retrophin was founded by infamous entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, who had resigned from the company in 2014 and last year was accused of defrauding investors through his hedge fund. Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) is currently working on Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis. During the second quarter, Kevin Kotler’s Broadfin Capital reduced its stake in Raptor Pharmaceuticals by 8% to 6.45 million shares.

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