At a time when the major indexes are in bull market territory, shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV), IntelliPharmaCeutics Intl Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:IPCI) and Tuesday Morning Corporation (NASDAQ:TUES) are also well in the green. In the following article, we will examine why investors are buying these stocks despite the market uncertainty and also examine the latest hedge fund activity in them.
Hedge funds have been underperforming the market for a very long time. However, this was mainly because of the huge fees that hedge funds charge as well as the poor performance of their short books. Hedge funds’ long positions performed actually better than the market. Small-cap stocks, activist targets, and spinoffs were among the bright spots in hedge funds’ portfolios (read the details here). This strategy also managed to beat the market by double digits annually in our back tests covering the 1999-2012 period.
After a disastrous start to the year, with losses at around 42% year-to-date, shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) are rebounding today on the back of positive news regarding the company’s copper production for fiscal year 2016. The company expects production growth of 25% compared to the previous fiscal year. Moreover, in the mines of Peru, the company expects to grow its production by 65% this fiscal year compared to the previous one.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) gained popularity among the investors that we track in the third quarter. 44 funds held shares of the company on September 30, up by three over the quarter, and they amassed 13.8% of the float. Among them, Carl Icahn‘s Icahn Capital LP was the largest shareholder, reporting a position of 100.0 million shares in its latest 13F filing.
Follow Freeport-Mcmoran Inc (NYSE:FCX)
Follow Freeport-Mcmoran Inc (NYSE:FCX)
Moving on, Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) shares are up by 10% today after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $275.0 million, beating estimates of $262.3 million. The company’s revenue rose by $24.7 million compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Same-store sales increased by 0.1%, while its merchandise margins inched up by 20 basis points. For fiscal year 2015, Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation reported net sales of $1.03 billion, up by 5.3% year-over-year, and same-store sales were up by 1.3% for the year.
Among the funds that we follow, 15 reported long positions in Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) as of the end of September, down by one from a quarter earlier and they amassed 19.4% of the float. Among those funds from our database that were long the stock was Alexander Medina Seaver‘s Stadium Capital Management, which has an activist position and has been seeking better performance from the company.
Follow Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (NASDAQ:BGFV)
Follow Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp (NASDAQ:BGFV)
Tuesday Morning Corporation and IntelliPharmaCeutics are examined on the next page.