Why These 5 Stocks Are Rocketing Higher Amid a Tough Monday Market

Major U.S stock indexes are down slightly on Monday amid weak manufacturing data and crumpling oil prices, however, shares of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG), Amaya Inc (NASDAQ:AYA), TrovaGene Inc (NASDAQ:TROV), Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG), and Eros International plc (NYSE:EROS) are well in the green despite that. In the following article, we will examine why investors are buying these stocks and also examine the latest hedge fund activity in them.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, 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 beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see more details here).

Back to Monday’s gainers, we’ll start with Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG), which is up by over 91% in the early afternoon after analysts at Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage on the stock with a price target of $10.00, which represented over 400% upside potential from its price entering the day’s trading session.

Unsurprisingly, the nano-cap company is not very popular among the funds we follow. Only two reported long positions in Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYEG) as of the end of September, both of which were initiated during the third quarter (the company went public during the quarter), and they amassed 4.2% of the float.

Moving on, Amaya Inc (NASDAQ:AYA) shares are up by 25% today after the company announced a non-binding proposal from CEO David Baazov. The buyout offer of CAD$21.00 per share (US$15.07) represented a 40% premium from the shares closing price on Friday. The Canadian company, which runs the online poker site PokerStars, will convene a special committee to evaluate the proposal. Out of the 730 funds that we track, 18 of them held shares of the company on September 30, amassing 27.4% of Amaya Inc (NASDAQ:AYA)’s float.

Next on our list is TrovaGene Inc (NASDAQ:TROV), whose stock is well in the green after the company announced an agreement with FedMed, giving the latter access to TrovaGene’s Precision Care Monitoring (PCM) tests and services. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a ‘Buy’ rating and $10.00 price target on the stock following the announcement of the deal. Shares are up by 17% today, and still have greater than 125% upside potential based on Cantor’s price target.

Hedge fund sentiment was steady in TrovaGene Inc (NASDAQ:TROV) during the third quarter, as the number of funds long the stock remained unchanged at six. Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management was the largest shareholder of those with 3.29 million shares, valued at $18.7 million at the end of September.

Next up, we’ve got Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG), which is up by about 13% today, seemingly on no particular news. Investors should notice, however, that the stock has been falling heavily over the past 12 months, having lost more than 63% and is a volatile stock, with a beta of 1.63.

Hedge fund sentiment also remained stayed steady in Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG), as the number of funds long the stock remained unchanged at 11 by the end of the third quarter, with those investors amassing around 1.1% of its outstanding stock.

Although analysts at Vetr downgraded Eros International plc (NYSE:EROS)‘s stock to ‘Buy’ from ‘Strong Buy’, with a price target of $9.72, shares of the company have also gained 13% today, pushing them into green territory for the year, up by over 10%.

During the third-quarter, Eros International plc (NYSE:EROS) registered a slight increase in popularity among the funds that we track, with 16 investors holding long positions at the end of September, versus 14 funds at the end of June. Those investors held 8.4% of the Indian film company’s outstanding stock.

Disclosure: None