Why Twitter, AMD and 2 Other Stocks Are in the Red Today, While Repros is Surging

It’s profit taking day for many investors, as all three major indexes are modestly lower. In late-afternoon trading, both the Dow and the S&P are off by 0.24%, while the Nasdaq is down by 0.45%.

Among the stocks showing considerably more volatility than the indexes today are Repros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPRX), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU), and Western Refining Logistics LP (NYSE:WNRL). Let’s analyze the news flow concerning these five companies and check out how hedge funds have positioned themselves in them.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track over 750 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Quka / Shutterstock.com

Nano-cap Repros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPRX)‘s shares have surged by 11% after the company announced positive outcomes from a Phase 2 study for Oral Proellex in women with moderate to severe endometriosis. According to the double-blind study of 60 subjects, 70% of subjects treated with Proellex became amenorrheic and the induction of amenorrhea was associated with a substantial reduction in reported pain leading to a subsequent reduction in analgesic use. Due to those results and the observation that treatment with Proellex was generally well tolerated, the company concluded that Proellex subjects’ menstrual pain by BBSS decreased significantly when compared to those treated with a placebo. Repros’ management plans to interact with the FDA to discuss plans for late-stage development of Proellex. Two funds that we track were bullish on Repros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPRX) at the end of the second quarter, down by four funds from the end of the previous quarter.

Like the broader indexes that sit just below their all-time highs, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is a victim of profit taking today. Given that shares of the semi-conductor company have more than doubled year-to-date, some traders are selling in anticipation of the pricing of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)’s secondary offering of $600 million in equity and $450 million in convertible senior notes. Given that AMD is itself a volatile stock and the collective sum of the fundraising accounts for almost one-fifth of the company’s current equity valuation, it is understandable why some would want to lock in their gains. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies raised its stake in AMD by 1,121% to almost 9.7 million shares during the second quarter. Shares of AMD are down by 8.63% today and by 16.77% this week.

On the next page we’ll find out why Twitter Inc, SUPERVALU INC, and Western Refining Logistics are on the move today.