Line Corp’s IPO, MGM’s Push Into Mobile Gaming Among the Biggest Finance Stories of the Day

The Dow Jones Index and the S&P 500 are in record territory this afternoon as traders bid up stocks on the back of solid earnings results from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). Among the stocks trending on Thursday are Line Corp (ADR) (NYSE:LN), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC), and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C). Let’s take a closer look at why the five stocks are in the news and see what the smart money managers in our database think of each stock.

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).

Line Corp Soars

Like many tech IPOs before it, Line Corp (ADR) (NYSE:LN) shares have surged out of the gate on its IPO day, rising by 26.98% to trade around $41.70 per share. Seeing as underwriters typically price offerings below expected market value to create buzz, Line Corp’s pop isn’t exactly surprising. If the messaging app, which has 218 million active users and reported $1 billion in gross sales last year, monetizes its user base well, however, the stock could be a good long-term holding. Given that the stock just had its initial public offering today, no funds that Insider Monkey tracks in its database of 766 elite funds rare known shareholders of Line Corp (ADR) (NYSE:LN) at this time.

Line IPO Validates Facebook’s WhatsApp Purchase

Line Corp’s successful IPO and over $7 billion valuation validates Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)‘s purchase of Whatsapp. Mark Zuckerberg and Co. famously bought the messaging app in 2014 for $22 billion, a price that seemed crazy given that Whatsapp made very little money at the time. Seeing as Whatsapp now has over 1 billion monthly users, or roughly four times as many as Line Corp, the price Facebook paid no longer looks as steep. Facebook dominates mobile messaging apps and it also has a promising growth market in virtual reality given its Oculus purchase. If the augmented reality game Pokemon Go can become a cultural phenomenon, virtual reality apps could be a hit too. Stephen Mandel‘s Lone Pine Capital owned 11.4 million shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at the end of March.

On the next page, we’ll find out why MGM Resorts, Range Resources Corp, and Citigroup are in the spotlight today.

MGM Resorts Introduces Mobile Gaming

Although it is a traditional integrated casino operator, MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) isn’t adverse to adjusting to the times. On Wednesday, MGM Resorts introduced the first digital and interactive tournament to be offered by a regulated casino in the United States, easyPLAY Mobile Tournaments, at nine different properties. EasyPLAY is a mobile gaming platform that offers opportunities for customers to win thousands of dollars by playing regularly scheduled tournaments of classic casino games such as bingo, slots, and others through their mobile phones. Bulls hope the new feature will help bring in more cash flow for MGM. 55 funds in our system were long MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) at the end of the first quarter, up by six funds from the close of the prior quarter.

Analysts Give Thumbs Up to Range Resources 

Analysts at Imperial Capital upgraded Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) to ‘Outperform’ from ‘In-line’ and raised their price target on the stock to $55 from $45 per share today. The analysts believe higher natural gas prices are here to stay and that Range Resources has reported some strong well results in its Marcellus play. Despite the upgrade, Range Resources shares have retreated by 3% today, mainly on the back of lower natural gas prices, which are in the red this afternoon. The number of funds that we track with long positions in Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 36 as of the end of March.

Citigroup Benefits From Peer Strength

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) shares have risen by almost 3% today, largely on the back of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s better-than-expected earnings results. Given that JMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently said that many of the company’s regulatory and legal headwinds had begun to abate, many traders hope the same headwinds facing Citigroup will change for the better too. Shares of Citigroup trade at a traditionally-cheap valuation of just 0.61-times book value and are down by 16% year-to-date. Ken Fisher‘s Fisher Asset Management was one of the top shareholders of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) holding 12.06 million shares as of June 30.

Disclosure: None