Trading Week Kicks Off With A Bang for Wal-Mart and 4 Other Stocks

Double Beat for Horizon Pharma

Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) shares have jumped by over 6% today after the release of its third quarter of fiscal year 2016 results this morning. Revenue of $257.4 million easily bested analysts’ consensus estimate of $234.9 million, while the biopharmaceutical company pasted adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.56, topping estimates of $0.50. Each of the company’s three business units: orphan, rheumatology and primary care, performed well during the quarter. Actimmune, for the treatment of chronic granulomatous disease and severe malignant osteopetrosis, was a key driver of the strong top-line results.

The collection of 766 funds in our database that filed 13F’s for the March quarter loved Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) on March 31, owning 33.60% of its common stock. 35 of those funds were long the stock at that time.

MEI Pharma Soars on Pracinostat Agreement

MEI Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:MEIP) shares have leapt by nearly 30% today after it reported entering into an exclusive licensing, development and commercialization agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical group Helsinn. The agreement for the commercial rights to its acute myeloid leukemia (AML) drug Pracinostat will see the company receive a $15 million upfront payment, plus another $5 million payment when the first patient is dosed in the upcoming Phase III study of the treatment. A further $444 million worth of milestone payments are eligible to be received based on sales performance and other factors. In addition to AML, the treatment will also be tested on other indications, to which Helsinn now owns the rights to as well.

Only two hedge funds in our database were long MEI Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:MEIP) at the end of March, those being Renaissance Technologies and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group. Shares of the nano-cap were nearly flat year-to-date at Friday’s close.

Oasis Petroleum Continues to Climb

A few days after posting big gains on an earnings beat, shares of Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS) are up by over 8% today as positive momentum builds and oil has jumped by 2% this morning. Raymond James and Citigroup both upgraded the stock to ‘Strong Buy’ on Friday, with each firm also raising their price target on it to $17 from $14, which suggested upside potential of nearly 100% before the trading day began. In addition to the strong second quarter earnings that the company posted on Wednesday, it also raised its production guidance for the year to 48,500-to-49,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from guidance of 46,000-to-49,000 issued in the first quarter. Shares of Oasis Petroleum are up by over 26% year-to-date. John H. Scully’s SPO Advisory Corp owned 19.91 million shares of Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:OAS) at the end of the first quarter.

Disclosure: None