Trending Stocks: Berkshire Hathaway, Southwest Airlines, Tyson Foods, More

U.S stock futures opened higher on Monday after a 2% rise in oil prices, but the market struggled to maintain the rally following a decline in energy and materials stocks. Some companies also announced their latest quarterly earnings reports today, which significantly affected their own shares. Some stocks in the spotlight today are Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV), and HCP, Inc. (NYSE:HCP). We’ll take a look at why these stocks are making noise today and see how top hedge funds are positioned in them.

Berkshire Hathaway Misses Estimates

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) is 1.25% in the red today after the conglomerate headed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett missed earnings expectations by $487 a share. The company reported a 12% decline in operating earnings at $2,274 per share, down from the Thomson Reuters estimate of $2,761. Revenue in the quarter came in at $52.4 billion, up from $48.65 billion a year earlier. During the company’s 2016 annual meeting, Mr. Buffett said that the holding company’s insurance and railroad businesses are being dented because of low interest rates and cheap natural gas. Mr. Buffett warned investors that the results from the railroad business will remain below average because of the lower coal volumes amid the fall in gas prices. However, Mr. Buffett did add that Berkshire Hathaway makes decisions solely on the basis of what is best for its investments and not on how they would affect quarterly earnings.

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, 76 hedge funds in our system held long positions in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), worth approximately $19.3 billion. As of March 31, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had more than 5.58 million shares of the company.

Tyson Foods Beats Estimates

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) has gained 1.81% today after the company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.07 for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016, on revenues of $9.17 billion, beating estimates of $0.96 in EPS on $9.04 billion in revenue. The food production company now expects a fiscal year 2016 EPS in the range of $4.20 to $4.30, up from the previous guidance range of $3.85 to $3.95 and better than the estimates of $4.06. The impressive results in the fiscal second quarter were mainly due to declining feed prices amid an oversupply of corn and soybeans. The company also benefited from the fall in livestock costs.

37 funds in our database were shareholders of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) at the end of last year, while First Eagle Investment Management owns more than 2.8 million shares of the company as of March 31.

On the next page we’ll discuss Teva Pharmaceutical, Southwest Airlines, and HCP, Inc.