Why Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (HIMX), and Three Other Stocks Are Trending Today

The three major indexes are all lower this afternoon as investors take profits.

In this article, we will examine five stocks that are in the spotlight: Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ:VA), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX), KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), and American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL). In addition, we will take a look at what smart money investors from our database think about the companies in question.

We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see the details here).

Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ:VA) is in the spotlight after the company reported its September preliminary operational results. Virgin America’s traffic measured in revenue passenger miles rose by 24.2% year-over-year in September, while the company’s capacity measured in available seat miles jumped by 15.1% on the year. Load factor came in at 84.2%, a 6.1 point rise from September 2015. In addition, the number of on-board passengers advanced by 19.7% year-over-year to 673,000. Of the 749 funds we track, 25 funds owned $927.01 million worth of Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ:VA)’s stock, which accounted for 37.30% of the float on June 30, versus 27 funds and $518.31 million, respectively, on March 31.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)‘s seemingly endless quest to expand might entail some convenience stores in the company’s future. According to the Wall Street Journal, the e-commerce giant plans to roll-out brick-and-mortar convenience stores in addition to curbside pickup spots to offer fresh groceries to its customers. Amazon is entering the physical realm mainly to capture demand from people who would like to physically pick up their produce and groceries (as opposed to having them delivered). Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owned just under 2 million shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the end of June, down by 21% on the quarter.

On the next page, we find out why Himax Technologies, KBR, and American Airlines Group are trending.
Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) shares are 3% in the red after Northland analyst Tom Sepenzis trimmed his forward estimates on the stock, mainly due to some delays that augmented reality makers are contending with. Due to his research, Sepenzis expects Himax’s augmented reality sales to decline in the fourth quarter and in the first half of 2017. Northland nevertheless maintains its ‘Outperform’ rating and $12 price target on the stock due to the expectation of robust demand in the second half of 2017. A total of 24 funds tracked by us were long Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:HIMX) at the end of the second quarter, down by three funds from the previous quarter.

KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) shares have retreated by 6% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to ‘Sell’ from ‘Neutral’ and cut its target to $15 from $16 per share. Analyst Jerry Revich thinks KBR has limited growth prospects given the company’s considerable exposure to the greenfield ammonia and LNG capex cycles (The outlook for both sectors isn’t particularly bright at the moment). According to our data, 24 funds owned shares of KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR) at the end of June, down by four funds from the previous quarter.

American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) is trending after the airline reported its September traffic results. American’s total revenue passenger miles fell by 1.7% year-over-year to 17.8 billion miles in September, while total capacity inched down by an annual 0.4% to 21.8 billion available seat miles. Meanwhile, in contrast to some other airlines, American’s total passenger load factor retreated 1.1 percentage points to 81.6%. Due to the results, American expects its third-quarter total revenue per available seat mile to decline by 2%-3% year-over-year. The company’s management also expects a third-quarter pre-tax margin, excluding special items, between 13% and 15%. The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey with holdings in American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) fell by five quarter-over-quarter to 56 at the end of June.

Disclosure: None