Here’s Why Traders Are Watching AXT Inc, Barrick Gold, 3M, and More Today

On the day after another Fed rate hike, the markets are relatively quiet as all three major indexes are close to flat. The Dow is down just 5 points, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ are in the red by 0.01%.

Among stocks showing more volatility than the indexes are AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI), Barrick Gold Corp (USA) (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG), 3M Co (NYSE:MMM), and Johnson Controls International plc Ordinary Share (NYSE:JCI). Let’s examine why traders are keenly watching the five stocks and analyze smart money sentiment toward them.

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AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) is 13% in the red after the corporation disclosed that an electrical short-circuit fire had occurred at the company’s Beijing manufacturing facility on March 15, local time. Although no injuries occurred and no damage was caused structurally, AXT lowered its revenue outlook to $18-$18.5 million for the first quarter from the previous guidance of $19.5-$20.5 million. The company is working to resume production as quickly as possible, and due to the immediacy of the event, no further details have been released. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 11 funds owned $15.91 million of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) and accounted for 10.20% of the float on December 31, versus 11 funds and $20 million respectively on September 30.

Two gold miners, Barrick Gold Corp (USA) (NYSE:ABX) and Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG) received the thumbs up from RBC Capital analyst Stephen Walker today. Specifically, Walker upgraded Goldcorp’s rating to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Underperform’ and hiked his price target to $17 from the previous $15. The analyst did one better for Barrick Gold, raising his rating to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ and setting a $23 per share target, up from the previous $19. Walker likes the valuation for both miners. It also doesn’t hurt that the Fed is guiding for only two more interest rate hikes this year. According to our records, 37 top funds owned shares of Barrick Gold Corp (USA) (NYSE:ABX) at the end of December, down 8 funds from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, 25 elite funds owned shares of Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG) at the end of the fourth quarter, up one fund sequentially.

On the next page, we look into 3M Co, and Johnson Controls International plc Ordinary Share.Deal activity in the conglomerate sector is alive and well as Johnson Controls International plc Ordinary Share (NYSE:JCI) has agreed to sell its Scott Safety business to 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) for an enterprise value of $2 billion. The acquisition is expected to be accretive on an adjusted basis for 3M by around 10 cents per share in the first 12 months after deal close. On a GAAP basis, the deal will likely dilute earnings by the same amount for 3M over the same period. By doing the deal, Johnson Controls is getting around 13 times TTM EBITDA for the business and should get $1.8-$1.9 billion in net cash when all is said and done. Johnson management plans to use the funds to repay debt. 37 and 48 funds that Insider Monkey tracks were long 3M Co (NYSE:MMM) and Johnson Controls International plc Ordinary Share (NYSE:JCI) at the end of Q4.

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