Here’s Why These Five Stocks Are Trending on Thursday

It’s a relatively quiet Thursday on Wall Street as all three indexes are near flat and crude prices are modestly lower. With OPEC meeting in Vienna today and the correlation between crude and stocks still somewhat in tact, volatility could increase later in the day, however. Among the stocks in the spotlight today are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Weatherford International Plc (NYSE:WFT), Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI), and Guidewire Software Inc (NYSE:GWRE). Let’s find out why each stock is buzzing and see how the world’s greatest investors are positioned among the stocks.

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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).

Alibaba Group Prices Its SoftBank Buyback

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is trending after the Chinese e-commerce giant disclosed that it will be paying $74 per share to buy back 27 million of its shares from SoftBank. SoftBank was an early investor of Alibaba and is planning on selling at least $7.9 billion worth of Alibaba shares to increase liquidity. The buyback price of $74 per share is the same price as the price of two other separate sell transactions that SoftBank engaged in with other parties. Many investors believe Alibaba shares hold great value, but there are some short term clouds due to the slowing Chinese economy. The number of elite funds with holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) fell by 10 quarter-over-quarter to 67 at the end of March.

Microsoft Opens Up Windows Holographic

With demand for virtual reality devices expected to be around 80 million devices per year by 2020, it’s no surprise that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is trying to get ahead of the curve by opening up its Windows Holographic software platform to third party hardware companies. The software platform is the brains behind Microsoft’s HoloLens and Microsoft is opening the platform up to hardware firms to try and gain more market-share in the fast growing market. Bulls hope Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s HoloLens can be a hit product that further diversifies the software giant away from PCs. Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital owned 56.6 million shares of Microsoft at the end of the first quarter.

On the next page, we examine Weatherford International, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, and Guidewire Software.Weatherford Prices Senior Note Offering

Weatherford International Plc (NYSE:WFT) is slightly lower after the energy services company priced the offering of $1.1 billion of exchangeable senior notes at an interest rate of 5.875%. The underwriter also has the option to buy an additional $165 million of the notes. The notes don’t mature until 2021, and Weatherford intends to use the money raised to retire bonds with earlier maturities. Weatherford International Plc (NYSE:WFT) was in the equity portfolios of 37 funds from our database at the end of the first quarter.

Ollie’s Turns In a Solid Quarter

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) posted earnings of $0.20 per share on revenue of $193.7 million for its first quarter, beating the consensus estimates by $0.03 per share and $3.26 million, respectively. Revenue rose by 19.2% year-over-year as comparable-store sales jumped by 6%. Gross margin rose 140 basis points to 40.8% and the company expects full-year earnings of $0.84 to $0.86 per share on revenue of $868 million to $878 million, versus analyst expectations of $0.84 and $876 million, respectively. Overall, 11 funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned shares of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OLLI) at the end of March, up by three from the end of 2015.

Guidewire Software Reports Strong Results 

It was a pretty good fiscal third quarter for Guidewire Software Inc (NYSE:GWRE), as the company earned an adjusted $0.14 per share on sales of $98.86 million, beating analysts’ forecasts by $0.08 per share and $6.46 million, respectively. Revenue rose by 15.7% year-over-year, led by the company’s License division, which grew by 37.5%. Guidance is strong, with the company expecting full -year adjusted EPS of $0.73 to $0.76 on revenue between $416.5 million and $420.5 million, versus estimates of $0.69 per share and $414.2 million, respectively. Billionaire Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies owned almost 120,000 shares of Guidewire Software Inc (NYSE:GWRE) at the end of March.

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