Here’s Why Traders Are Buzzing About Sprouts Farmers Market, Transocean, Mobileye, and More

Crude futures are in the red again this morning as sentiment around the commodity remains sluggish. Although OPEC jawboning could always send the price of the commodity up, many investors won’t jump in until inventory data shows U.S. shale production slowing or topping, something that hasn’t happened yet.

While crude is commanding a lot of attention, five stocks, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM), Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF), Mobileye NV (NYSE:MBLY), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), are also in the spotlight. Let’s take a deeper look at why each stock is trending and analyze how elite funds were positioned among them according to the latest 13F data.

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Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) shares have popped in the pre-market after Bloomberg reported that chain store Albertsons has held preliminary talks to potentially merge with Sprouts. Albertsons is backed by the private equity fund, Cerberus, which manages tens of billions of dollars. If it does sell itself, Christopher Mandeville of Jefferies estimates that Sprouts could sell for $26 per share based on historical transactions in the past. Mandeville currently has a $22 price target. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 23 funds owned $164.96 million of Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) and accounted for 6.10% of the float on December 31, versus 22 funds and $139.94 million respectively on September 30.

 is in the spotlight after Norway’s Borr Drilling agreed in a letter of intent to purchase 15 drilling rigs from the company for $1.35 billion. Those rigs include 10 rigs currently operating and five under construction. Despite the news, Transocean shares are modestly lower in the pre-market due to the lower crude futures. 29 top funds were long Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) at the end of the fourth quarter, down 6 funds from the previous quarter.

On the next page, we analyze the events causing Tiffany & Co, Mobileye NV, and Intel Corporation to trend.