Why Traders Are Clamoring Over These 5 Stocks Today

It’s a good day to be a bull on Wall Street as all three indexes and crude futures are in the green. Today’s ADP jobs report came in ahead of expectations and traders are optimistic on the EIA report scheduled to be released later today.

Among the stocks trending this morning are Second Sight Medical Products Inc (NASDAQ:EYES), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL), and Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL). Let’s take a closer look at why these equities are in the spotlight and see how elite funds are positioned in them.

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 to beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see the details here).

Nightman1965/Shutterstock.com

Second Sight Surge on Proposed CMS Reimbursement Rate

Second Sight Medical Products Inc (NASDAQ:EYES) is 24% higher today after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services posted the proposed rules for the 2017 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System. The new proposed rules include a potential outpatient rate of approximately $150,000 for Argus II and the associated surgical implantation procedure for calendar year 2017. That’s 59% higher than 2016’s rate of $95,000, which bodes extremely well for Second Sight. Four elite funds had a bullish long position in Second Sight Medical Products Inc (NASDAQ:EYES) at the end of March, down by one from the beginning of the quarter.

Citigroup to Combine EMEA and Asian Consumer Segments

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) is in the spotlight after Reuters reported that the bank is combining its consumer banking segment in Asia with its consumer business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The combination should simplify Citigroup’s sprawling emerging market presence and boost its efficiency. Shares of the bank have fallen by 20% year-to-date and trade for just 0.58-times book value due to concerns of an emerging market recession and continued low interest rates. Of the 766 elite funds that we track, 101 of them owned $8.04 billion worth of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) shares on March 31, which accounted for 6.50% of the float.

On the next page we examine the latest concerning Bank of America, Whiting Petroleum, and Seadrill.
Bank of America Rises Despite Downgrade

Although analysts at Raymond James recently downgraded Bank of America’s stock to ‘Market Perform’ from ‘Outperform’ due to the estimated impact of FAS91 and potentially higher credit losses, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) shares are still 1.7% higher this morning, mainly due to value investors buying for the long-term. Although there will be great uncertainty surrounding banks if the EU, Britain, or the United States enters into a recession, many of the money-center banks, including Bank of America, are trading below their tangible book values and have been given the green light from the Federal Reserve to return more capital to their shareholders in the form of dividends or buybacks. Shares could be due for a bounce if/once the Brexit and global recession fears abate. The number of investment firms in our system with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) in their portfolios fell by three quarter-over-quarter to 110 as of the end of March.

Crude Related Stocks Rise on Higher WTI, Brent

Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) and Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) are in the green this morning on the back of higher crude prices. Although the EIA hasn’t released the official inventory numbers for last week, yesterday’s API numbers showed a 6.7-million barrel crude inventory draw-down, a 3.6-million barrel gasoline draw-down and a 2.3-million barrel distillate draw-down. Given the greater-than-expected draw-down numbers, it’s not surprising that WTI prices are above $48 and Brent prices are higher than $49 per barrel this morning.

43 funds that we track were bullish on Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE:WLL) at the end of March, up by three from the end of the previous quarter. Meanwhile 22 funds owned shares of Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) at the end of March, up by one quarter-over-quarter.

Disclosure: None