Why Traders Are Watching Manhattan Associates, Meridian Bioscience, Puma Biotechnology, Tesla and More

With earnings season in full swing, volatility in the indices has trended a bit higher compared to that of previous weeks. Among the stocks that are showing considerable volatility in their own share prices this morning are Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH), Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO), Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS), and Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI).

We’ll take a look at why the four stocks are on the move, and also analyze why traders are watching Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) today. In addition, we’ll use the latest 13F data to see how hedge funds were positioned among the stocks.

At Insider Monkey, we track around 750 hedge funds and 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. The key is to focus on the small-cap picks of these funds, which are usually less followed by the broader market and allow for larger price inefficiencies (see the details here).

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Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) shares are off by 8% after the company reported mixed results for its third quarter. For the three months, Manhattan Associates earned $0.50 per share on revenue of $152.2 million, beating the Street’s profit estimate by $0.04 per share, but missing its top-line expectation by $3.95 million. As for guidance, the company anticipates adjusted EPS of $1.82-to-$1.84 for the full year, up from the previous guidance range of $1.78-to-$1.81. Revenue for the year is seen coming in between $603 million and $609 million, down from the previous range of $615 million-to-$620 million. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies cut its stake in Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH) by 18% in the second quarter to 1.78 million shares at the end of June.

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) shares are 11% in the red in extended market trading after the company announced its preliminary fiscal 2016 operating results and issued fiscal 2017 revenue and earnings guidance. For its fiscal 2016, the company expects diluted earnings per share of $0.75-to-$0.76 on revenue of $196 million, up by 1% year-over-year. Meridian expects fourth quarter sales to clock in at $47 million, due to a combination of competitive pressures, distributor order patterns, and other factors. As for fiscal 2017, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be between $0.81 and $0.85 and net revenue to be $205 million-to-$210 million. Of the 749 hedge funds that we track which filed 13Fs for the June quarter, 19 were long $58.22 million of Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO) shares at the end of June, which accounted for 7.10% of the float.

On the next page we’ll find out why investors are watching Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Puma Biotechnology, and Tesla Motors.