Trending Stocks: First Solar, Inc. (FSLR), Eli Lilly and Co (LLY), and More

On the day before Thanksgiving, five stocks, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT), Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY), Axovant Sciences Ltd (NYSE:AXON), and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) are in the spotlight. Let’s uncover why each stock is trending and analyze the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

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Traders are watching First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) after Macquarie analyst Gurpreet Gujral downgraded the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ and trimmed his price target to $32.75 from $57.33. The analyst cited the lack of positive catalysts ahead due to First Solar nixing the Series 5 line that had been slated to hit the market next year. Nevertheless, given that President-elect Trump has backed away from his global-warming-isn’t-real view somewhat, some bulls think that there is potential for Gujral to be wrong in the long term.  Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management held 1.74 million shares of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) at the end of the third quarter.

Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) is in the spotlight after Oppenheimer analyst Steven Lichtman of trimmed his price target on the stock to $84 from $94. Atlhough he maintains his ‘Outperform’ recommendation, Lichtman is slightly less optimistic about the stock, due to the company’s second-quarter results, which were primarily the result of some domestic issues. Medtronic reported mixed results for the quarter, beating Wall Street’s profit estimates by a penny a share, but missing the top-line consensus by $160 million. A total of 43 funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) at the end of September, down by seven from the end of June.

On the next page, we examine Eli Lilly and Co, Axovant Sciences, and Biogen.