U.S. stock markets are mixed on Friday, following analogous corporate earnings, with the S&P and NASDAQ trading modestly up, and Dow Jones marginally down, mostly driven by a decline in energy stocks and weaker-than-anticipated GDP growth in the second quarter that was disclosed earlier today.
However, a few stocks, including Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE:DECK), Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU), YRC Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:YRCW), Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) and Amira Nature Foods Ltd (NYSE:ANFI) are gaining ground today. With this in mind, let’s take a look into the events that sent these stocks higher today, and assess what the funds in our database think about the companies in question.
While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, the hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, hedge funds and other institutional investors allocate significant resources while making their bets and their long-term focus makes them the perfect investors to emulate. This is supported by our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).
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Deckers Outdoor Thrives On Double-Beat
Let’s start with Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE:DECK), which has risen by more than 2.8% on Friday, driven by better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. The company posted a net loss of $1.80 per share, beating the estimates by $0.27, while its revenue of $174.39 million topped the consensus estimate by $4.13 million, although same-store sales slid by 7.3%. The stock was also helped by a strong guidance, which includes fiscal second-quarter EPS between $1.12 and $1.22, compared to estimates of $1.19, while for the full fiscal 2017, the company expects EPS of $4.05 to $4.40. As of the end of the first quarter, 21 funds among those we track hold long stakes in Deckers Outdoor Corp (NYSE:DECK). The largest position was held by Richard Mashaal’s Senvest Management, which disclosed ownership of almost 1.5 million shares, valued at more than $89 million.
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Skypeople Fruit Juice Skyrockets On Entry To Export Market
Next up is Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU), which has gained roughly 5% today, after announcing it had formed a new unit that will operate “as a global trading and marketing platform to optimize Skypeople’s Hedetang fruit juice product portfolio,” according to a statement. Some analysts have already weighed in on the development, arguing that it should be value-accretive over the long-term, helping the company diversify geographically. At the end of the first quarter, Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ:SPU) saw only five institutional investors among its shareholders, including Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which held 17,051 shares.
