Why Investors Are Buzzing About Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Enbridge, Facebook and More

With the third quarter officially wrapping up at the end of Friday’s close, unexpected volatility in either direction could potentially appear at any time. Volatility certainly reared its head in Asia last night, as the Nikkei 225 fell by over 1.4% and the Hang Seng retreated by more than 1.8%.

In this article, we’ll examine five stocks that are making headlines on Friday, which are Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THLD), Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB), Cempra Inc (NASDAQ:CEMP), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), and see how some of the world’s most successful investors are positioned in them using the latest SEC filing data.

Our research 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).

Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THLD) is down by exactly 50% this morning after the company reported disappointing interim results for its tarloxotinib program. According to CEO Barry Selick, “the overall results from the two studies didn’t meet the activity thresholds required to move forward the molecule forward despite the promising results seen in preclinical translational studies.” Specifically, the investigative drug did not achieve the response rate endpoint in patients with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, or in patients with advanced EGFR-Mutant, T790M-Negative non-small cell lung cancer. Due to that data, Threshold will make no further investment in the tarloxotinib program and will instead focus on evofosfamide and TH-3424. Of the 749 funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 12 of them had a long position in Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THLD) at the end of the second quarter, up by three from the end of the previous quarter.

Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB) is in the spotlight today after the company announced that it, along with some of its affiliates, has agreed to sell a 994-mile pipeline network in Southeast Saskatchewan to Tundra Energy Market for CAD$1.075 billion, or roughly USD$818 million under current exchange rates. The pipeline transports around 175,000 barrels of crude a day and will get Enbridge about halfway to its non-core asset divestment goal of $2 billion that its management previously set forth in an effort to strengthen its balance sheet after its CAD$37 billion ($28.21 billion) acquisition of Spectra Energy was announced earlier this month. Eric Sprott‘s Sprott Asset Management almost doubled its position in Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB) during the second quarter to just over 600,000 shares at the end of June.

On the next page, we’ll take a closer look at the latest on Cempra, Facebook, and Cisco Systems.

Cempra Inc (NASDAQ:CEMP) shares are 2% in the green today after the company announced interim results from a Phase 2 Study of Solithromycin. According to the company, pre/post treatment biopsies show that the mean NAS reduction clocked in at 1.3 points after 90 days of treatment with solithromycin. The investigative drug was also well tolerated. Given that the study size was somewhat small with just six patients, the company plans to continue the phase 2 study so as to obtain data from up to 15 NASH patients, with enrollment expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. Smart money sentiment towards Cempra Inc (NASDAQ:CEMP) was stable in the second quarter. 14 funds in our database were long Cempra Inc (NASDAQ:CEMP) at the end of June, unchanged from the end of March.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) plans to launch a major ad campaign replete with TV commercials and billboards to get more of its users to use the company’s live stream video feature. The ad campaign is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of making Facebook into more of a ‘video first’ company. Seeing as how video ads are generally more lucrative than text ads, Facebook shareholders could benefit greatly if more people use the feature. Stephen Mandel‘s Lone Pine Capital reported holding a stake of over 10.9 million shares in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) as of the end of June. That was down by around 5% from the fund’s holding in the social media company at the end of March.

Traders are watching Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) today (and various cybersecurity stocks) after the company’s CEO Chuck Robbins made an appearance on CNBC’s Mad Money, stating that his company will focus more on the growing field of cybersecurity and the cloud. Robbins also added that Cisco’s dividend is attractive, as it currently pays out an annual yield of 3.3%, double the 10-year yield. The number of funds in our system with holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell by four during the second quarter to 61 at the end of June.

Disclosure: None