Investors Are Abuzz About These 5 Stocks This Morning

Although crude futures are up by more than 1%, volatility in the major indexes is low as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ are each modestly higher. Among the stocks that investors are buzzing about today are Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR), Spirit Airlines Incorporated (NASDAQ:SAVE), SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU), Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), after each company reported their latest quarterly financial results. Let’s see how each of them did and see what the smart money in our database thought of each stock heading into that earnings period.

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Whirlpool Lower on Earnings Dissapointment

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) shares are down by 5% this morning after the company missed EPS and sales estimates. For the first quarter, Whirlpool earned $2.63 per share on sales of $4.62 billion, missing the bottom-line estimate by $0.05 per share and falling short of top-line expectations by $70 million. Although North American net sales rose by 4.3% year-over-year, Whirlpool’s Europe, Middle East and Africa net sales dropped by 7.7%, with the strong dollar playing a big part in that drop. Fiscal year 2016 guidance was for $14.00-to-$14.75 in adjusted EPS, $11.25-to-$12.00 in diluted EPS, and free cash flow of $700 million-to-$800 million. David Tepper‘s Appaloosa Management LP was one of the top shareholders of Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) at the end of 2015.

Spirit Flying Higher After Earnings Beat

Spirit Airlines Incorporated (NASDAQ:SAVE) reported better-than-expected first quarter numbers and its stock is 3.7% higher this morning because of it. For the January-to-March period, the airline earned $1.01 per share on sales of $538.14 million, beating estimates of $0.96 per share in earnings and $536.18 million in revenue. Return on invested capital for the last 12 months ended March 31 was a solid 28.3% while cash and cash equivalents was $902.8 million. Out of the 786 elite funds that we track in our database, 35 of them owned shares of Spirit Airlines Incorporated (NASDAQ:SAVE) at the end of the fourth quarter.

On the next page we examine the latest activity regarding SUPERVALU INC, Pioneer Natural Resources, and BP plc (ADR).

SUPERVALU in the Green 

SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU) shares are in the green by 5.6% this morning after the company reported fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016 earnings of $0.23 per share on sales of $3.95 billion, beating earnings estimates by $0.04 per share but missing sales expectations by $50 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $177 million while gross margin was 15%. Full fiscal year 2016 sales came in at $17.53 billion. Of the 786 active funds that we track, 26 of them owned $381.27 million worth of SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU)’s shares on December 31, well down from 40 funds with $396.97 million in holdings on September 30. Shares of the company are still down by 19% year-to-date.

Pioneer Natural Resources Surges on Lower-Than-Expected Losses

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) reported a narrower-than-expected first quarter loss and its shares are 5.6% higher because of it. For the first three months of the year, the leading independent lost $0.64 per share versus estimates of $0.75 per share. Sales came in at $685 million, light of the expectations of $711.66 million. Pioneer’s losses were narrower in part because its average daily production was 3% greater than expected, with the company producing an average of 222,000 BOE per day, while estimates had predicted 215,000 BOE per day. Due to the increased first quarter production, management raised its full year production outlook to 224,000-to-229,000 BOE per day for fiscal year 2016. Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global was a top shareholder of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) at the end of the fourth quarter.

BP Shares Get a Lift

BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) shares have jumped by 4.44% in morning trading after the British energy giant reported better-than-expected first quarter results. For the quarter, BP managed to turn in an adjusted replacement cost profit of $532 million, or adjusted replacement cost profit per ADS of $0.17 per share, after adjusting for various non-operating items and net unfavorable fair value accounting. That was better than market expectations, which admittedly weren’t accurate due to the uncertainty over which charges BP would take. The company’s net debt ended March at $30 billion, versus $25.1 billion a year earlier. Helping sentiment today are the higher Brent prices and the fact that BP announced a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per ADS. BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) was in 32 elite funds’ portfolios at the end of 2015.

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