Wells Fargo, Twitter, Pfizer and More: Why Investors Are Yammering About These 5 Stocks

After rallying last week, WTI futures retraced back to their near-term lows again on Wednesday as sentiment around the commodity struggles to remain bullish.

Among the stocks commanding the spotlight today are Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE:CLC), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), and Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR). Let’s take a closer look at the latest happenings concerning the five stocks and see how the smart money is positioned in each of them.

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Although the bank may have settled with the U.S. government regarding thousands of its employees creating two million fake customer accounts, among other shady activities, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC)‘s problems may not be over just yet. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of New York, along with another district, are investigating Wells Fargo’s sales practices and have issued subpoenas for various documents and other evidence to decide whether there should be a case brought against the bank. Given that the case is in the early stages, charges may not be brought against it. In a poll that we conducted last week, 62.6% of 139 respondents felt the $185 million settlement with the U.S government was not enough of a penalty. Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway owned around 480 million shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) at the end of June.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is in the spotlight due to the social media company’s first scheduled live stream of an NFL game on Thursday night. Some analysts think the live stream might be Jack Dorsey and Co’s last chance to reignite user growth, engagement, and more importantly, monetization. If the initiative doesn’t succeed, activists and other shareholders might have a stronger hand in asking the Board to unlock value through M&A, a sale, or other means. 30 funds in our system were long Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) at the end of June, up by three from the end of March.

On the next page, we’ll find out why CLARCOR, Pfizer, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras are trending today.

CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE:CLC) shares are 4.65% in the red in extended market trading after the company reported mixed results for its fiscal year 2016 third quarter. For the three months, Clarcor earned $0.73 per share on revenue of $331.4 million, beating the bottom-line estimate by $0.04 per share, but missing the top-line target by $6.51 million. Sales retreated by 5.9% year-over-year due in part to lower average foreign currency exchange rates and lower sales to a large retail customer, as well as due to softer sales in the U.S. independent aftermarket. Sales were also impacted due to the weak energy prices, which has in turn weakened demand for Clarcor’s products. Due to the soft demand, Clarcor’s management lowered their fiscal 2016 EPS guidance to $2.57-to-$2.63 from the previous guidance range of $2.60-to-$2.80. 14 funds that we track owned $103.57 million worth of CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE:CLC) shares at the end of June, which accounted for 3.50% of the float.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is in the spotlight today after independent panelists to the FDA recommended that the agency remove the ‘black box’ warning on the drug company’s smoking cessation drug Chantix, which was imposed seven years ago after thousands of reports arose claiming the drug had neuropsychiatric side effects. However, according to an 8,000-patient study, Chantix did not increase the occurrence of hostility, suicidal thoughts, or agitation as previously thought. If the warning label is removed, Pfizer could potentially make more in revenue from the drug, which did around $671 million in sales last year. 94 funds in our database were long Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) as of the most recent 13F reporting period, down by 25 funds from the March 31 reporting period.

Last but not least, Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) is again in the headlines after Brazilian prosecutors charged Lula da Silva — Brazil’s President before Dilma Rousseff — with being the head of a corruption scheme at Petrobras. Due to the corruption, prosecutors argue that Petrobras suffered as much as $12.6 billion in losses. Although the charges are likely politically motivated, they will nevertheless help Petrobras in terms of its independence from the Brazilian government. If Petrobras becomes more independent, it could realize better returns on capital (or at least that’s the hope). 23 funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) at the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None