MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET), La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (NASDAQ:LJPC), and Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRNE) experienced a formidable surge on the stock market last week. What was the impetus driving big gains in these stocks and did hedge funds predict their upward momentum? Let’s take a look at the activity in these stocks and find out.
We don’t just track the latest moves of hedge funds. We are, in fact, more interested in their 13F filings, which we use to determine the top 15 small-cap stocks held by the funds we track. We gather and share this information based on 16 years of research which showed that these 15 most popular small-cap picks have a great potential to outperform the market, beating the S&P 500 Total Return Index by nearly one percentage point per month in backtests, and easily beating the most popular large-cap picks of funds, which nonetheless get the majority of their collective capital. Why pay fees to invest in both the best and worst ideas of a particular hedge fund when you can simply mimic only the very best ideas of the best fund managers on your own? Since the beginning of forward testing in August 2012, the Insider Monkey small-cap strategy has outperformed the market every year, returning 145%, nearly 2.5 times greater returns than the S&P 500 during the same period (see more details).
MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET), the location-based social network, raised its revenue and EBITDA guidance for the second quarter last week, which led to a massive spike in the shares of the company on Tuesday. The company now expects revenue of $10.5 million to $10.7 million in the second quarter, up from its previous guidance of $9 million to $9.5 million. After the guidance change announcement on Tuesday, MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET)’s stock went up by 11.1% to $1.44 and surged by another 28.5% to $1.85 on Wednesday. The company says that it has raised its expectations for the second quarter because of a dramatic increase in its app ads revenue. According to Geoff Cook, CEO of MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET), the ads revenue in the first three weeks of June went up by 23% compared to the May average. Overall hedge fund activity on the stock was neutral, with ownership dipping to five funds through the end of the first quarter from six at the end of 2014, while aggregate investments rose to $14.13 million from $11.74 million. Joseph Jolson‘s Harvest Capital Strategies is the largest shareholder in our database, owning 4.56 million shares.
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (NASDAQ:LJPC)’s stock surged by more than 17% last week. The pharmaceutical company is currently trading 19.81% below its 52-week-high, and 177.22% above its 52-week-low. LJPC has received a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ from seven firms which are covering it. Around 10.1% shares of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (NASDAQ:LJPC) are owned by company Insiders and it was Director Kevin Tang’s purchase of 53,836 shares of the company on June 23 that helped spur its rally for the week. Fund ownership in the La Jolla decreased during the first quarter to eight funds with $88.50 million in shares, down from 11 funds with $96.90 million in stock at the end of 2014. Kevin Kotler‘s Broadfin Capital was the largest shareholder in our database after Tang, owning 703,470 shares, though it decreased its position by 38% during the first quarter.
Follow Kevin Kotler's Broadfin Capital
Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRNE) surged 19.94% last week, continuing a trend of strong performance, as shares have gained an impressive 37.51% in the second quarter. The most recent gains, which largely occurred on Monday, seem to have been triggered by a bullish note to investors from analysts at MLV & Co., who raised their price target on the stock to $33 on Monday from $25. That represented considerable upside of nearly 100% before the note was issued. Funds were also bullish on Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRNE) heading into this quarter, with nine funds holding $77.78 million of the company’s shares on March 31, a step up from the eight funds holding just $48.41 million in shares at the end of 2014. Dr. Behzad Aghazadeh‘s venBio Select Advisor was the most bullish of those, with a position of 2.21 million shares, and the stock ranking as its third pick.
Disclosure: None
