Rising Oil, Strong Earnings Have Several Energy Stocks Jumping Today

Oil prices have surged by over 3% today as investors are hopeful that an OPEC meeting scheduled for September could lead to a freeze on rising output, which has shackled the crude market in recent weeks. The energy sector is up by 1.6% today on the news, as several energy companies have posted monstrous gains.

We’ll take a look at three of them in this article: Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES), Resources Inc. (NYSE:DNR), and Sanchez Energy Corp (NYSE:SN), as well as a couple of other stocks that are heating up the boards during today’s session: Heat Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ:HTBX) and Resonant Inc. (NASDAQ:RESN). In addition to the latest news, we’ll also use SEC filings to judge the latest hedge fund sentiment towards each stock.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see more details).

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Emerge Energy Flying High on Flurry of News

Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) has gained 21% today on a trifecta of news consisting of the rising oil prices, the company’s second quarter results released this morning, and the announcement of a $20.00 million private placement of a new class of its limited partner interests. In the latter case, the company will use the proceeds from the sale to pay down some of its debt and for general partnership purchases. For its second quarter, Emerge Energy’s revenue fell to $24.83 million, from $68.12 million a year earlier. That led to an operating income loss of $22.87 million for the quarter, compared to a profit of $3.09 million in the second quarter of 2015. The company sold 399,000 tons of sand during the second quarter.

Emerge Energy Services LP (NYSE:EMES) was not at all popular among the funds in our database during the first quarter, as all four funds that held long positions in the stock on December 31 sold out of those positions by March 31. That appears to have been unwise, as shares have gained 129% this year.

Heat Biologics Heating Up

Shares of nano-cap Heat Biologics Inc. (NASDAQ:HTBX) are up by over 27% today on robust trading volume as the stock continues to build on a big run that began last week. Shares have now gained 121% over the last six trading sessions after being stuck in a narrow range for much of the last four months. After announcing a secondary offering on July 21, the company quickly changed course and announced that it had suspended the offering the following day, saying that it would instead explore strategic alternatives. The biotech company has two cancer drugs in Phase II studies, with the topline data from those trials expected in the fourth quarter. We reported on insider buying at Heat Biologics on March 24, shortly after shares spiked and then subsequently tumbled a few days earlier. Shares have gained 134% since March 24.

We’ll see what’s happening with three other stocks today on the next page.