Why Apple, Southwest Airlines, Polycom, And More Are Making Headlines Today

While global markets are bearish this morning on concerns over the world economy after the World Bank cut its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.9%, U.S stocks are up on positive sentiment about the country’s economy. Several stocks are making headlines today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Polycom Inc (NASDAQ:PLCM), Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV), Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY), and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE:JEC). Let’s see why these stocks are in the spotlight today and analyze what the hedge funds in our database think of them.

Our backtests that covered the period between 1999 and 2012, showed that following the 15 most popular small-caps among hedge funds can help a retail investor beat the market by an average of 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

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Apple Raises $1.38 Billion

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is up moderately this morning, pushing its gains to 1.5% this week. Among other news bites, Reuters reported that Apple has raised $1.38 billion from its first bond sale in Taiwan. Apple’s sale of the 30-year bond will list on June 22. The source added that Apple priced the bond at a yield of 4.15%, below the indicative range of 4.2% to 4.3%.

As of the end of first quarter 2016, 152 hedge funds in our system were long Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), owning approximately $14.8 billion worth of its shares. Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management has the biggest stake among those investors, with ownership of more than 11 million shares.

Polycom Receives Revised Buyout Offer

Polycom Inc (NASDAQ:PLCM)’s stock has gained more than 2% in morning trading after the company revealed that it has received a revised buyout offer from a potential suitor that had previously submitted a bid. Polycom has already agreed to be bought by Canadian telecommunications company Mitel Networks Corporation (NASDAQ:MITL) in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $11.96 per share as of Tuesday’s close. The latest offer by the unidentified private equity firm has valued the California-based video conferencing equipment maker at $12.25 per share.

Out of 766 active funds in our database, 22 were shareholders of Polycom Inc (NASDAQ:PLCM) as of the end of March. Paul Singer’s Elliott Management owns more than $8.8 million worth of the company’s shares.

Head to the next page to see why Southwest Airlines, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, and Jacobs Engineering are making moves today.