Twilio (TWLO) Continues to Soar as Technical Trading Drives Several Stocks Higher Today; See Which Ones

The latest EIA numbers are out, and crude futures are taking a step lower due to higher than expected distillate builds. Among the stocks going the opposite way are Birks Group Inc (NYSEMKT:BGI), China Metro Rural Holdings Ltd (NYSEMKT:CNR), Net Element International Inc (NASDAQ:NETE), YY Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:YY), and Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO), which have made big gains as we approach midday. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why each stock is surging and see how elite funds are positioned in them.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

Wall Street Bull

Technical Trading Detected at Birks

Birks Group Inc (NYSEMKT:BGI) shares have surged by 23% on strong volume due to technical trading. Because the company has a relatively small float of 2.6 million shares, its shares can move very quickly. Because Birks shares soared earlier in the month, some traders are buying now in the hope that the momentum will continue. There is no fundamental news concerning the company today however. None of the 766 funds that Insider Monkey tracks had stakes in Birks Group Inc (NYSEMKT:BGI) at the end of March.

China Metro Spikes

China Metro Rural Holdings Ltd (NYSEMKT:CNR) has soared by 51% to trade around $1.53 on technical buying. Like Birks Group, there is no fundamental news concerning the company. China Metro’s surge today is somewhat of a head-scratcher, given that the company announced a go-private plan on May 20 for $1.03 in cash per share. As with all nano-caps, investors are urged to perform due-diligence before buying or selling. No top fund that we track reported holding shares of China Metro Rural Holdings Ltd (NYSEMKT:CNR) as of the end of the first quarter.

On the next page we’ll examine the latest concerning Net Element, YY Inc, and Twilio Inc.
Net Element Up on SEC Filing 

Net Element International Inc (NASDAQ:NETE) is 18% higher today after the company filed an 8-K with the SEC for the period of 7/6/2016, disclosing that it has entered into a common stock purchase agreement with ESOUSA HOLDINGS, LLC. The filing specifies that the agreement calls for ESOUSA to purchase up to an aggregate of $10 million of Net Element shares over the 30-month term of the purchase agreement, upon certain terms, conditions and limitations. No fund in our database held shares of Net Element at the end of March. As with all nano-caps, investors are urged to exercise due-diligence before buying or selling shares.

YY’s Momentum Continues

Technical buying is still alive and well in today’s bull market, as YY Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:YY) shares have soared by 6.5% in late morning trading on no fundamental, company-specific news. Partly helping YY shares rise today could be that the stock closed above a key moving average yesterday. Shares of YY also trade at 12-times forward earnings estimates, versus the Nasdaq’s forward earnings multiple of around 19. According to our database, 19 elite funds owned shares of YY Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:YY) at the end of the first quarter, up by three funds from the previous quarter.

Twilio Rises as Traders Anticipate End of Quiet Period

Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO) shares are 10% in the green today as traders buy in anticipation of the end of the company’s quiet period on July 18. At that time, various firms that underwrote Twilio’s IPO such as Goldman, JPMorgan, and others can issue coverage on the stock, which presumably could be positive. If the big investment banks issue bullish ratings, Twilio shares could see a brief pop. Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO) has had an extremely successful IPO, gaining 46% since its June 24 trading debut. Philippe Laffont‘s Coatue Management recently announced holding a position of 625,000 class A common shares of Twilio.

Disclosure: None