Why Alibaba, Canadian Solar, Synacor and Two Other Stocks are Gaining Ground Today?

Synacor Beats First Quarter Estimates 

Synacor Inc (NASDAQ:SYNC)’s stock grew more than 13% today after the company posted its better-than-expected first quarter financial results. The New York based Cloud and consumer electronics company reported a net loss of $0.05, better than the expected  loss $0.09. Revenue of $30.3 million also dwarfed the estimate of $28.6 million. For the full year, Synacor Inc (NASDAQ:SYNC) expects revenue between $130 and $135 million, up from the previous guidance of $125 to $130 million. In a statement, Synacor’s CEO, Himesh Bhise, said that the company continues to deliver growth and expand its margins. Mr. Bhise said that Synacor is making progress in renewing its customer portals, advertising, email, and video platforms. Last week, Synacor announced its multi-year deal with AT&T to run services across desktop and mobile portals. This would mean a $100 million annual income for Synacor after it deploys the new platform and migrates its customers to it by 2017.

Phil Frohlich’s Prescott Group Capital Management is one of the two hedge funds having stakes in Synacor Inc (NASDAQ:SYNC) at the end of last year. It has more than 1.1 million shares of the company.

Freeport-McMoRan Sells Stake in Africa

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) announced on Monday that it would sell its stake in TF Holdings Limited, a holding company that has an 80% stake Tenke Fungurume mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to China Molybdenum. Freeport-McMoRan, which is the largest mining company in the US in terms of market value, also said that it would negotiate with China Molybdenum to sell its stakes in Freeport Cobalt for $100 million and Kisanfu Exploration project in Congo for $50 million. Freeport-McMoRan is trying to lighten its debt loads. The company announced at the start of this year that it would sell $4 billion worth of assets. On Tuesday, Noble Corp. (NYSE:NE) announced that it will get $540 million from Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) for not using its two drillships. According to the agreement between the two companies, Freeport-McMoRan was supposed to use the drillships till 2017, but the falling oil prices forced the company to change its plans. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) are up more than 6% today.

As of the end of 2015, 37 hedge funds held stakes in Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), having approximately $1 billion worth of shares. As of March, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management has 146,955 shares of the company.

SolarCity Rebounds

SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)’s stock rebounded today after getting crushed yesterday on the back of reporting a first-quarter loss of $2.56 per share, much lower than the expected $2.34 per share. The San Mateo-based renewable energy company’s revenue rose by 82% on the year to $123 million, better than the expected $110 million. The company was hit by slowing growth and rising costs in the quarter.

Out of the total funds we track, 29 funds reported stakes in SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) as of the end of 2015. As of March 2016, Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management owns 19,097 shares of SolarCity.

Disclosure: None