Stocks That Are Going Viral Today: Tesla (TSLA), Travelport (TVPT), Viacom (VIAB), and 2 More

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 the details here).

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Tesla Misses the Mark

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares are flat this morning after the company reported a disappointing second quarter but provided upbeat guidance. For the three months ended June 30, Tesla lost $1.06 per share and reported revenue of $1.56 billion, missing estimates by $0.54 per share and $60 million respectively. Revenue rose by 30% year-over-year as Model S sales inched up by 3% quarter-over-quarter. Adjusted automotive margin inched up by 1.9 percentage points to 21.9%. Supporting shares of Tesla today is the company’s guidance. Elon Musk and Co believe that Tesla is on track to deliver 50,000 vehicles in the latter half of 2016, which if met, would match almost all of Tesla’s deliveries last year. Of the 766 actively-reporting hedge funds that we track, 39 owned $1.08 billion worth of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares on March 31, up from 29 funds and $837.44 million respectively on December 31.

Travelport’s Also Sloughs Off Results With Strong Guidance

Travelport Worldwide Ltd (NYSE:TVPT) is 4% in the green today after reporting mixed second quarter results. For the period, Travelport earned $0.28 per share on revenue of $605.91 million, missing bottom-line estimates by a penny per share and beating the top-line target by $12.1 million. Net revenue increased by 9% year-over-year while adjusted EBITDA inched up by 1% to $139 million. Management reiterated its net revenue outlook of $2.35 billion-to-$2.4o billion, and adjusted EBITDA guidance of $565 million-to-$580 million for the full year. In addition, management raised its adjusted income per diluted share guidance to $1.16-to-$1.24 from the previous range of $1.12-to-$1.20. 31 funds that we track were long Travelport Worldwide Ltd (NYSE:TVPT) at the end of the first quarter, down by five funds from a quarter earlier.

On the next page we’ll find out why Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, Viacom, and Restaurant Brands International are garnering attention this morning.

Louisiana-Pacific Powered by Strong Housing Starts 

The strong housing market is definitely helping Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX). For its second quarter, the wood products company reported better than expected results for both its top- and bottom-lines, with earnings of $0.28 per share on sales of $582 million (up by 18.1% year-over-year) beating the estimates of $0.26 in EPS and revenue of $578.3 million. Adjusted EBITDA from operations was $99 million for the time period, versus $16 million in the second quarter of 2015. In terms of guidance, CEO Curt Stevens seems confident about future demand as he said: “While I now expect 2016 housing starts to be up less than 10 percent over last year, this muted recovery actually bodes well for the future as there will likely be a long period of improving housing activity.” The number of funds in our system with long positions in Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX) rose by eight quarter-over-quarter to 24 as of the end of March.

Viacom Turns In Strong Quarter

Traders are watching Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) today after the media giant reported fiscal year 2016 third quarter earnings of $1.05 per share on revenue of $3.11 billion, beating estimates by $0.04 per share and $100 million respectively. Although shareholders are more focused on the company’s ownership situation and the potential sale of a stake in Paramount, the conglomerate turned in a solid quarter and continued to execute on its strategic plan by investing in high quality content and accelerating data-driven advertising. Shares of the company are up by 9% year-to-date. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management reported owning a stake of over 3.1 million share of Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) as of March 31, up by 17% quarter-over-quarter.

Restaurant Brands Profits Top Estimates

Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR) are down mildly this morning after the holding company announced earning $0.41 per share for its second quarter, beating estimates by $0.06 per share. Revenue came in at $1.04 billion, missing by just $10 million. Tim Hortons’ comparable-sales rose by 2.7% year-over-year, while Burger King’s comparable-sales inched up by 0.6% in constant currency terms. Adjusted EBITDA was $479.1 million, up by a solid 16.2% year-over-year on an organic basis. Bill Ackman‘s Pershing Square and Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway were both major shareholders of Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR) at the end of March.

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