Why These Three Stocks are Trading Higher on Thursday

The markets have inched up in the first hours of trading amid positive results announced by several companies. Among them, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO) have advanced by over 5% in early trading, while Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) has surged by over 22%. Let’s take a closer look at the financial results reported by these companies that are pushing their shares higher.

photofriday/Shutterstock.com

In addition, we would like to take a look at what the smart money thinks about these stocks. One of the main differences between smart money investors and the rest of the crowd is that they often look at the big picture rather than concentrate on short-term performance and this is why imitating their activity can generate substantial gains over the long-term. Our strategy involves imitating the 15 most popular small-cap picks among over 700 large investors and it has returned 102% since August 2012, beating the market by more than 53 percentage points (see more details).

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)‘s stock reached a new 52-week high of $110.65 on the back of its latest financial results, which included earnings of $0.57 per share on revenues of $4.5 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $0.52 and $4.37 billion, respectively. The company also reported having 1.01 billion Daily Active Users in September, up by 17% on the year, while the number of Monthly Active Users went up by 14% year-over-year to 1.55 billion. The company also posted strong gains for the mobile segment with its numbers of Monthly and Daily Active Users advancing by 23% and 27% on the year to 1.39 billion and 894 million, respectively. Facebook said that mobile advertising revenue stood at 78% of total advertising revenue, up from 66% of the total a quarter earlier.

Investors from our database like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which ranked as their third-most popular stock, with 133 funds reporting long positions in it as of the end of June. Recently, billionaire Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors mentioned Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) as one of its top tech picks and projected an 18% growth rate for the stock for the next three-to-five years (see more details). In addition, Clifford Fox’s Columbus Circle Investors reported ownership of 3.14 million shares of Facebook as of the end of September.

On the next page, we will discuss the metrics that have driven XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO) and Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) higher today.

XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO)‘s stock also jumped on positive financial figures for the third quarter, the company posting a boost in revenue to $2.36 billion, versus $662.5 million a year earlier and in line with expectations. However, its net loss went higher, to $0.94 per share, from $0.23 a year earlier and was below the consensus estimate of a loss of $0.11 per share. The provider of transportation logistics services has also appointed Tony Brooks to lead its new trucking fleet that was acquired through the purchase of Con-way in September. The appointment, as well as the acquisition of Con-way are considered signals for investors that XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO) is planning to go for bigger customers. The investors from our database are also bullish on XPO, with the number of funds holding long positions having increased to 43 from 34 during the second quarter, while collectively they held nearly 27% of the company’s stock at the end of June. William B. Gray’s Orbis Investment Management was among XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE:XPO)’s shareholders, owning 3.55 million shares at the end of June.

Finally, Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG)‘s stock has surged after the company posted a 72% annual increase in revenue to $115.1 million for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2016. It also delivered non-GAAP EPS of $0.36, up from $0.09 a year earlier and above the estimates of $0.30. For the current quarter, Solaredge expects revenues in the range of $118 million-and-$121 million. However, most of the funds we track are cautious towards Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG). At the end of June only 17 of them held shares of the company, down from 22 a quarter earlier, while the aggregate value of their holdings was equal to 5.10% of the company’s float. Richard Driehaus‘ Driehaus Capital held 232,627 shares of Solaredge Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SEDG) at the end of the second quarter.

Disclosure: None