Why These Five Stocks Are in Spotlight Today?

The US stock market is mixed on Monday intraday trading, with Dow Jones in the red, dragged by the declines registered by Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX). Meanwhile, several stocks are making headlines today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), Depomed Inc (NASDAQ:DEPO), Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP), and JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD). This article takes a closer look at the events that surround these five stocks today and assesses the hedge fund sentiment towards each one of them.

At Insider Monkey, we follow around 800 smart money investors, whose 13F portfolios we analyze to determine how they collectively are trading thousands of stocks. By focusing on the small-cap space, we identify 15 stocks that we use as part of our investing strategy (see more details here).

The healthcare sector has been buzzing today on the back of M&A news. The New York Post reported that  Depomed Inc (NASDAQ:DEPO) and Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) may relaunch their merger plans. According to a The Post’s undisclosed sources, Horizon Pharma might relaunch its bid for Depomed, if the latter is forced to explore its sale. Activist Jeff Smith of Starboard Value accumulated a nearly 10% stake in Depomed Inc (NASDAQ:DEPO) and has launched a proxy fight in order to reshuffle the board and push for a transaction (see details). Last year, Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) made a $3.0 billion offer to acquire Depomed Inc (NASDAQ:DEPO), but the bid was rejected. Aside from Starboard Value, Anders Hallberg and Carl Bennet’s HealthInvest Partners AB initiated a stake in Depomed during the first quarter and reported holding 200,000 shares in its last 13F filing. In Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP), Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP initiated a stake containing 60,000 shares during the first quarter.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock was trading in the green territory for the largest part of the day, but is currently slightly down. Earlier today reports emerged that CEO Tim Cook plans a trip to China later this month. China has become one of Tim Cook’s more frequent destinations lately, but this trip caught media’s attention due to the timing. Apple has recently lost a trademark ruling in the country and its latest financial results disappointed investors with weakening iPhone sales. Recently, billionaire activist Carl Icahn said he sold out his fund’s position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) due to concerns regarding the company’s performance in China. On the other hand, billionaire Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management held 11.32 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at the end of March and will most probably be the largest shareholder among the funds we track (it was trailing Icahn Capital last quarter).

Let’s head to the next page, where we are going to take a closer look at the latest developments that put Freeport-McMoRan and JD.com in the spotlight today.