Why These 5 Stocks Are Making Moves Higher Today

Wall Street has recorded moderate gains on the first day of March, with crude prices being the main catalyst for the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, there are several stocks gaining today, some of which are Workday Inc (NYSE:WDAY), Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL), JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD), Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE:HTZ), and Ion Geophysical Corp (NYSE:IO). In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the developments behind the moves registered by these stocks and assess the relevant hedge fund sentiment towards them.

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Workday Inc (NYSE:WDAY)’s stock is nearly 14% higher on the back of the company posting its financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2016 fiscal year. For the quarter ended January 31, Workday reported revenue growth of 42.9% year-over-year to $323.4 million, while its loss narrowed to $0.01 per share from $0.06 per share a year earlier. Moreover, the results exceeded analysts’ estimates by $0.04 in EPS and by $3.77 million in revenue. In addition to that, the provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources said it reached subscription revenue of $261.8 million, an increase of 44% for the fiscal year. For the current quarter, the company forecasts revenue in the range of $337 million to $339 million and fiscal year 2017 revenue of between $1.54 billion and $1.55 billion, largely in-line with estimates. A total of 24 funds from our database held 6.1% of Workday Inc (NYSE:WDAY)’s outstanding stock at the end of the fourth quarter, down by four funds over the quarter. David Goel and Paul Ferri’s Matrix Capital Management was among the believers in our database, with 3.96 million shares held at the end of December.

Next up is Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL), whose shares are up by 4% after the company revealed a narrower loss than expected for the fourth quarter. Exelixis reported a loss of $0.19 per share on revenue of $9.9 million, beating analysts’ estimates by $0.03 per share and $1.74 million, respectively. The cancer drug developer expects operating expenses of between $240 and $270 million in 2016, including about $30 million of incremental, non-cash, stock-based compensation expenses. In other news, Exelixis and Ipsen have announced an exclusive licensing agreement for marketing and development of cabozantinib , which is a leading oncology drug. The agreement stipulates that Ipsen will have exclusive marketing rights to cabozantinib outside the United States, Canada and Japan, while Exelixis will maintain exclusive commercial rights to cabozantinib in the United States and Canada. The two sides will continue to negotiate over the rights to the drug in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Of the 730 elite funds that we track, 17 of them were long Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) on December 31, owning 7.20% of the company’s float. Among the believers is Kenneth Tropin‘s Graham Capital Management, with a holding of 13.22 million shares.

Our third stop is JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD), China’s second-largest e-commerce company, which is up by more than 3% after it reported fourth quarter financial results of a loss of 7.6 billion yuan ($1.16 billion) on revenue of 54.6 billion yuan ($8.34 billion). JD’s revenue easily beat expectations and amounted to 57% year-over-year growth. Chief Financial Officer Sidney Huang told Reuters that despite an adverse global scenario, the company’s “growth remains healthy”. Management expects the current quarter net sales to be 50% higher when compared to the year-ago period. JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD) had a total of 78 investors reporting long positions in it as of the end of December, amassing 38.5% of the company’s outstanding stock.

Next on our list of gainers is Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE:HTZ), whose shares have surged by 13% after the company reported fourth quarter EPS of $0.05, beating analysts’ estimates by $0.01 per share. The company’s revenue of $2.41 billion missed estimates by $110 million however. In the same period of the previous year, the company posted a net loss of $0.34 per share on $2.56 billion in revenue. The car rental company highlighted its $75 million in savings quarter-over-quarter thanks to its cost reduction program. Our data shows many hedge funds owning Hertz Global Holdings Inc (NYSE:HTZ), with 52 of the smart funds in our database reporting stakes in the company as of the end of the fourth quarter. Carl Icahn‘s Icahn Capital had the largest stake among those shareholder, at 63.71 million shares.

Last but not least, Ion Geophysical Corp (NYSE:IO) has jumped by 42% after the company announced an agreement with debt holders, which represents more than two-thirds of the total outstanding principal amount of the company’s 8.125% Senior Secured Second Priority Notes due 2018.  The agreement aims to extend the maturity of the existing outstanding securities of the Company to December 15, 2021 and use up to $15 million to reduce the total amount of existing notes at a substantial discount to par.

Nine funds that we track were long Ion Geophysical Corp (NYSE:IO) at the end of the fourth quarter, down from 11 funds long the stock at the close of the third quarter. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies held 2.61 million Ion Geophysical shares at the end of December.

Disclosure: None