Why These Five Stocks Are Trending Today

U.S. stocks are down on Monday, driven by tumbling oil prices and the anticipation building up around the Federal Reserve meeting. However, stocks are oscillating in both directions.

Among the stocks posting relevant moves, we can count NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE:NPTN), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RTTR). Let’s take a look into the events behind the volatility of the stocks in question, and see what the hedge funds in our database think about them.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 765 hedge funds and other institutional investors. Through extensive backtests, we have determined that imitating some of the stocks that these investors are collectively bullish on can help retail investors generate double digits of alpha per year (see more details about our small-cap strategy).

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NeoPhotonics Spikes On Needham Upgrade

So, let’s start with NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE:NPTN), which has gained more than 17% on Monday, driven by a bullish report from Needham & Company’s Alex Henderson, Quinn Bolton and James Ricchiuti, who predicted a cycle with three major simultaneous drivers. Consequently, the experts boosted their rating on shares of NeoPhotonics and four other optical components stocks from ‘Buy’ to ‘Strong Buy’. As of the end of the first quarter, 17 funds among those we track are long NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE:NPTN). Notable was the stake of Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which last disclosed ownership of 1.16 million shares.

AMD Rises After Bullish Forbes Article

Next up is Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), which is surprisingly up about 17.75% on more than double its average volume, and witnessing plenty of options activity. Behind such a surge seemed to be a Forbes article written by Patrick Moorhead, who shared a look into the company’s “positive” decision to diversify its silicon manufacturing away from GlobalFoundries. “We have the option of enabling production with Samsung if needed as part of the strategic collaboration agreement they have with GLOBALFOUNDRIES to deliver 14nm FinFET process technology capacity,” AMD told Moorhead. “All in all, this lowers the risk to AMD and their products and puts them in a much better position on CPUs, APUs and SoCs then they have been in years,” the analyst concluded. A total of 13 funds among those we track were long Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) at the end of the first quarter of 2016. Among them were D E Shaw, which held 4.68 million shares and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which disclosed ownership of 794,400 shares.

Barron’s Article Sends Mortgage Insurers Up

Shares of MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG) are trading up about 4% on Monday afternoon, apparently helped by a Barron’s article that argued that mortgage-insurance stocks could carry an upside of 50%, “riding a strong housing mark et and fewer defaults.” Moreover, the experts stated, the recent earnings beat suggests there could be plenty of upside to come in the following moths. MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE:MTG) counted 37 hedge fund supporters in our database by the end of the first quarter. Among them was John Paulson’s Paulson & Co, with 149.5 million shares – in the form of a bond, valued at $188.2 million by March 31.

Exxon Mobil Down On Tumbling Oil and Potential JV

On the other hand, shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) are trading down about 1.8% as crude prices slide – more than 2.5%- and the company considers a joint venture with Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. to construct a major petrochemicals complex on the Texas or Louisiana Gulf Coast. The idea is to harness the cheap and abundant natural gas resources available in the U.S. right now. A total of 60 funds among those we track were long Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) at the end of March.

Ritter Pharmaceuticals Skyrockets On No Particular News

Finally, there’s Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RTTR), which has risen almost 19% on Monday trading, even though no particular news surfaced. As most nano caps, Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RTTR) does not count of many hedge fund supporters. In fact, only three firms among those we track held long positions in the company at the end of the first quarter. The largest of them was owned by Kevin Kotler‘s Broadfin Capital, which last declared holding 778,000 shares of the company.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no interest in any of the securities or entities mentioned above.