Why ConocoPhillips, Amgen, Alere & Three Other Stocks Are Trending Today

Given that it’s the middle of earnings season, it’s not surprising that many major companies are trending today. The market are in the red a day after the Federal Reserve decided to keep the interest rates unchanged, but hinted towards a hike in September.

In this article, we take a closer look at four companies that just released earnings, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG), Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), and Cheesecake Factory Inc (NASDAQ:CAKE). In addition, we are going to take a closer look why Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) is in the spotlight. Aside from the latest developments surrounding these five stocks, we are going to assess the hedge fund sentiment towards each of them.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 770 hedge funds and institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on, can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

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ConocoPhillips Rises Despite Loss

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) opened higher, but has retreated after the company posted a wider-than-expected adjusted loss of $0.79 per share for the second quarter, missing analyst estimates by $0.18 per share, while its revenue slid by 36% on the year to $5.58 billion. Second quarter production averaged 1,546 MBOED, and the company improved production and operating expenses by 20% year-over-year. Due to the strong results, ConocoPhillips is increasing full 2016 production guidance to 1,540-1,570 MBOED and cutting capex to $5.5 billion from the previous $5.7 billion. A total of 45 funds from our database had a bullish position in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) at the end of March, up by 14 funds from the previous quarter.

Harley-Davidson’s Posts In-Line Revenue

Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) shares have managed to recover after having opened in the red, on the back of the company reporting largely in-line second-quarter results. For the time period, Harley-Davidson earned $1.55 per share on sales of $1.67 billion, beating profit estimates by $0.01 per share and meeting sales expectations. Although domestic retail sales inched lower by 5.2% year-over-year and full year motorcycle shipment guidance was lowered to 264,000 units from the previous 269,000, Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) nevertheless added 2.0 percentage points to its market share. According to our data, the smart money has been lukewarm towards the motorcycle company, as 20 investors tracked by us were long Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 24 funds a quarter earlier.

On the next page, we find out why traders are talking about Alere Inc, Amgen Inc, and Cheesecake Factory Inc.

Amgen Earnings Ahead of Estimates

Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) reported second-quarter net income of $2.84 per share on revenue of $5.7 billion, beating the consensus estimates by $0.10 per share and $120 million, respectively. The company’s sales advanced by 6.1% year-over-year, led by a 10.1% increase in sales of Enbrel and a 29.7% spike in revenues of Prolia. Management also raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $11.10 to $11.40 from the previous $10.85-to-$11.20 range. Despite the strong results, Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) shares are trading lower, but are set towards a recovery. Dan Loeb’s Third Point owned 3 million shares of Amgen at the end of the first quarter.

Cheesecake Spikes After Earnings Report

Cheesecake Factory Inc (NASDAQ:CAKE) bulls are having a good day after the restaurant chain reported earnings of $0.78 per share for the second quarter, beating the estimates by $0.07 per share. Although sales missed estimates by $3.06 million, Cheesecake shares are nevertheless 5.45% higher in morning trading. Traders are looking past the revenue miss and focusing more on the 20% quarterly dividend increase to $0.24 per share, the 0.3% rise in comparable restaurant sales, and the 7.5 million share increase in the share repurchase authorization. A total of 19 investors from our database were long Cheesecake Factory Inc (NASDAQ:CAKE) at the end of the first quarter, down by five from the previous quarter.

Alere Volatile after DOJ Subpoena

Trading around Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) has been fast and furious today after the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the company faces a criminal probe over Medicaid and Medicare billing. The government is also investigating Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) in regards to whether the company made illegal kickbacks to doctors to ramp up sales. Although shares fell 30% yesterday, the company’s stock is up 22% today after Alere clarified that the DOJ subpoena concerned Alere Toxicology Services, the company’s Austin pain management lab. According to Alere, the lab accounted for significantly less than 1% of total revenues. The company has also said that it ‘believes the matters to which the subpoena relates are not material’. The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey with holdings in Alere Inc (NYSE:ALR) rose by 15 quarter-over-quarter to 45 at the end of March.

Disclosure: none