Twitter, Amazon, Yahoo, Among 5 Stocks Making News Today: What Investors Need to Know

It’s a red day on Wall Street, as all three major indexes are down. The Dow is off by more than 100 points, the S&P is below 2,100, and the Nasdaq index is off by 1% as some traders go into ‘risk off’ mode in anticipation of a potential Brexit. Among the stocks in the spotlight today are Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT), and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT). Let’s dive in to why these stocks are trending and see what elite funds think of each of them.

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Instagram Surpasses Twitter 

According to Strata, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)‘s Instagram is attracting more social media ad campaigns than Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has struggled of late to monetize and grow its audience and its stock is down sharply from a year ago, by over 60%, including a 3% dip today. Although Instagram and Snapchat were founded years after Twitter, the two apps have since surpassed the company. Twitter bulls are holding out hope that CEO Jack Dorsey can turn the company around. Of the 766 active funds that we track, 27 funds owned $403.17 million worth of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares on March 31, which accounted for 3.50% of the stock’s float.

Yahoo! Auction Moves Forward

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)‘s core assets are moving closer to being sold, as the company is putting together a shortlist of competitive offers following the second round of bids. The offers from the second round are purportedly greater than Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)’s $3.5 billion bid. Like Twitter, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has struggled to turn a meaningful profit from its core assets. Various hedge fund managers believe Yahoo management could create more value by selling those core assets and becoming a holding company instead. 97 top funds in our database owned shares of Yahoo at the end of the first quarter.

On the next page we examine why Amazon.com Inc, Medtronic PLC, and Applied Materials Inc are grabbing attention today.

Another Analyst Gives The Thumbs Up to Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the beneficiary of another bullish analyst rating today, with professionals at William Blair initiating an ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock. The analysts like Amazon’s growth prospects given Amazon Web Services’ dominance. Amazon shares are 7.66% in the green year-to-date and are up by 68% over the last 12 months. 133 funds in our system also expected Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to perform well in the future, making Jeff Bezos’ company the sixth-most widely held company among the smart money crowd as of the end of March.

Medtronic Wins Tax Case

Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) is slightly in the red today after the company won a lawsuit against the IRS concerning how much of the company’s operating income should be taxed in Puerto Rico and how much should be taxed domestically. Medtronic faced potential losses of $1.4 billion if it had lost the suit. The number of top shareholders in our system with positions in Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) fell by ten quarter-over-quarter to 47 as of the end of the first quarter.

More Buybacks at Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s board of directors has approved a new $2 billion share buyback authorization following the recent completion of a previous $3 billion buyback program. The buyback authorization could remove 7.5% of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s float at current prices. Despite the news of the buyback, shares of the stock are down by 1.3% today due to broader market weakness. 39 funds that we follow held shares of the company at the end of March, down by two from the end of 2015.

Disclosure: None