Why These 5 Stocks Are Winning Today

The markets have edged lower today on the final trading day of what has been a very crucial week. The focus this week was on the Federal Reserve, which concluded its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. The Fed struck a cautious note, which boosted risk assets such as equities, as it delayed raising interest rates.

Although all three major indexes have edged lower in trading today, there are some stocks bucking the broader market’s trend. These include Bioline RX Ltd (NASDAQ:BLRX), Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS), Endo International plc- Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:ENDP), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), and United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X), all of which are soaring in today’s session. In this article, we’ll take a look at the latest developments involving these stocks and will also highlight the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

At Insider Monkey, we track more than 700 hedge funds, whose 13F filings we analyze as part of our small-cap strategy. Our research has shown that imitating a portfolio that includes the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds can outperform the market by as much as 95 basis points per month on average (see more details here).

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Bioline RX Ltd (NASDAQ:BLRX) announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with BGN Technologies and Hadasit, under which it will in-license a novel treatment for several liver failure conditions, including end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and conditions leading to liver diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The news has boosted Bioline RX’s stock by over 23% in trading today. Five funds in our system held $4.72 million worth of Bioline shares at the end of the June quarter, amassing 17.50% of the total outstanding shares.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) has surged by nearly 23% today after the company provided an update on its Phase 2 trial evaluating the efficacy of open-label ganaxolone as an adjunctive therapy for uncontrolled seizures in female children with PCDH19 mutation and other rare genetic epilepsies. The study will now be expanded to 50 patients, from the previous figure of 20. Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) shares are still down by 72% this year after ganaxolone failed a late-stage study in mid-June assessing its efficacy in treating adults with drug-resistant focal onset seizures. The number of hedge funds in our system long Marinus Pharmaceuticals stood at three at the end of the second quarter, with them holding approximately $1.3 million worth of the company’s shares.

We’ll run through three more of the day’s winners on the next page.