Today’s Hot Stocks: Buckle, Boeing, Ford, and More

The markets are relatively quiet today as traders look forward to this afternoon’s EIA petroleum status report and Friday’s employment situation release.

Among the stocks traders are talking about in light of the flat overall market backdrop are Buckle Inc (NYSE:BKE), Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Wingstop Inc (NASDAQ:WING), and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX). Let’s dive in and find out why each stock is trending and see how elite funds are positioned among them.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track over 770 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Buckle Comps Drop

Buckle Inc (NYSE:BKE) is buzzing today after the retailer announced its comparable net store sales dropped by 10.6% year-over-year for the five week period ended July 2. For the 22-week period, Buckle’s comparable store net sales year-to-date fell by 11%. Although the same store sales comp news wasn’t good, it seems the market was expecting similar numbers as Buckle shares are flat in pre-market trading. Of the 766 funds we track, 16 funds owned $182.96 million worth of Buckle Inc (NYSE:BKE)’s stock, which accounted for 11.10% of the float on March 31, versus 11 funds and $217.29 million, respectively, on December 31.

House Considers Blocking Iranian Jet Deal 

Although selling more airplanes would certainly help the U.S. economy, the House of Representatives is nevertheless considering blocking the sale of $17.6 billion worth of Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) aircraft to Iran. Iran is not exactly an ally of the United States and some think tanks have accused Iran of hurting U.S. interests in the Middle East. Boeing currently has a tentative deal to sell 80 airplanes and to lease another 29 to Iran Air beginning in 2017. It remains to be seen if the House will actually block the sale, however. Among the funds in our database, 37 funds had a bullish position in Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) at the end of March, down by five from the previous quarter.

On the next page, we find out why Ford Motor Company, Wingstop, and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings are in the spotlight.