Why Valeant, Micron, and Three Other Stocks Are in Green Territory on Friday?

Oil went back to tumbling on Friday, with crude oil losing more than 3.5%. On the other hand, markets returned to positive territory, with major U.S. stock indexes trading slightly up. A few stocks driving these gains include Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD), Cardiovascular Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSII), Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX), Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:SKYS), and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), all of which are on the rise. So, let’s take a look into the events that pushed these stocks higher and see what the funds in our database think about the companies in question.

While there are many metrics that investors can assess in the investment process, hedge fund sentiment is something that is often overlooked. However, 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 beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see more details here).

Back to the stocks that interest us, let’s start with Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD), which is up almost 4% on Friday trading. The surge was driven by the announcement that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) assumed a positive opinion to approve migalastat, an oral small molecule pharmacological chaperone, as a first line therapy for Fabry disease – for patients with amenable genetic mutations. The company expects a final decision from the European Commission in the second quarter of the year. If/when approved, the company will start a country-by-country reimbursement processes.

Among the hedge funds that we track, 23 were long Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FOLD) by the end of the fourth quarter. Their combined staked accounted for 39.2% of the company’s shares outstanding. The largest stake in our database was that held by Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors, which last reported holding 15.23 million shares of the company as of February 16.

Next up is Cardiovascular Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSII), whose stock is trading up more than 26.5%, responding to the announcement of the company’s fiscal third quarter (calendar first quarter) preliminary results. Management said revenue should come in at the $43.5 million-to-$44 million range, which is between 4% and 5% higher than the previous guidance. In addition, the company said it was implementing a restructuring plan, aimed at reducing operating costs, which includes an 8% reduction in its workforce. Furthermore, analysts at Needham upgraded the stock on Friday morning, to ‘Buy’ from ‘Underperform’.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, Cardiovascular Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSII) had the support of nine funds in our database, which held 14% of its total shares. Among them, we could highlight Robert G. Moses’ RGM Capital, which disclosed ownership of 1.32 million shares, worth almost $20 million on December 31.