Sanmina, Invivo, Knowles, NXP Semiconductors and The Container Store Are Top Gainers Today: Here’s Why

The markets are flattish on Tuesday, although energy stocks are surging on the back of higher oil prices and the dollar is falling on weaker-than-expected U.S economic data, which has raised expectations of interest rates remaining low for some time. However, as usual, a few stocks are still posting big upward moves today. Among them, we can count Sanmina Corp (NASDAQ:SANM), Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NVIV), Knowles Corp (NYSE:KN), Container Store Group Inc (NYSE:TCS), and NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI), all of which are trading considerably up on Tuesday afternoon. Let’s take a look into the events driving these spikes, and also see what the hedge funds in our database think about these companies.

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Sanmina Spikes on Strong Results and Guidance

Let’s start with Sanmina Corp (NASDAQ:SANM), which is roughly 10.5% in the green in Tuesday trading, triggered by the announcement of the company’s second quarter of fiscal year 2016 financial results after the market closed on Monday. The small-cap tech firm posted EPS of $0.63, beating the Street’s consensus by $0.06. Revenue of $1.61 billion also came in ahead of expectations, by $10 million. Guidance for the ongoing quarter also helped the stock, as management now expects EPS of $0.61-to-$0.65 on revenue of $1.625 billion-to-$1.675 billion, which stand above the Street’s consensus estimates of $0.60 and $1.623 billion respectively.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, Sanmina Corp (NASDAQ:SANM) counted 15 hedge fund supporters among those we track. Among them, we could highlight Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, which ownership of 1.02 million shares of the company worth almost $22 million by December 31.

Significant Advance in Spinal Injury Treatment

Next in line is Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NVIV), which is up by approximately 16.9% on more than double its average trading volume by early Tuesday afternoon. The stock is reacting to the announcement of positive results from the company’s Phase 3 INSPIRE study assessing its Neuro-Spinal Scaffold in patients with complete (AIS A) thoracic spinal cord injuries at the time of registration. A fourth patient, out of a total of six, has transitioned from AIS A status (complete spinal cord injury) to AIS B status (incomplete spinal cord injury). This implies a response rate of 67%.

On February 12, Hal Mintz’s Sabby Management disclosed a new stake in Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:NVIV), comprising 507,100 shares. That position makes it one of the top five institutional investors of record to date.

We take a look at three more trending stocks on the next page.

Knowles Surges on Double Beat

Shares of Knowles Corp (NYSE:KN) are up by almost 16.4% this afternoon, reacting to the announcement of the company’s first quarter financial results. EPS of $0.08 and revenue of $185.3 million both beat estimates, by $0.05 and $5.68 million, respectively. While second quarter guidance was only in-line with expectations, growth projections for the second half of the year, driven by new product launches, have investors excited.

Knowles Corp (NYSE:KN) saw the number of hedge fund backers increase by 15.3% over the fourth quarter among those we track, with 15 firms having long stakes in the company. Their combined positions accounted for almost 6% of the company’s float.

A “Relief Rally” for Container Store

Another big gainer on Tuesday is the Container Store Group Inc (NYSE:TCS), which is up by more than 21.6% even though it reported earnings of $0.20 per share on Monday afternoon, which were $0.01 shy of expectations. On the other hand, revenue of $232.07 million, up by 3.5% year-over-year, did beat estimates by $1.54 million. So, is the stock spiking only on the small revenue beat? Well, not really. This is what some have called a “relief rally”. This means that the results created hope of a turnaround among investors. Among the factors generating said bullishness were a 0.2% surge in comparable-store sales, well above guidance, which had predicted a drop of 3%-to-5%, as well as a 4.7% increase in its retail segment’s sales.

Among the eight funds in our system that were long the Container Store Group Inc (NYSE:TCS) at the end of the fourth quarter was Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital, which declared holding 2.32 million shares of the company as of the end of 2015.

NXP Semiconductors Also Surprises Analysts

Finally, there’s NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI), which has risen by more than 4.6% since the bell rang this morning, on the back of top and bottom-line beats. On late Monday, the company announced first quarter EPS of $1.14, $0.05 above the Street’s consensus, on revenue of $2.22 billion, which was $10 million better than expected.

There were 50 hedge funds among those we track with long stakes in NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) at the end of 2015. Their combined stakes accounted for 7.6% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.