Why Walt Disney, Facebook, Twitter, and More Are in the Spotlight

It’s the beginning of another week and crude futures are in the red again as energy sentiment has remained sluggish. Meanwhile U.S. stock futures are relatively flat as traders await the latest economic news releases.

In this article, let’s find out why traders are talking about Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL), and B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV), each of which are in the spotlight for their own reasons. Let’s also examine hedge fund sentiment toward them.

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Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) may have another big hit on its hands after ‘Beauty and the Beast’ opened to a mega-$170 million domestic take this weekend. The remake’s box office is substantially bigger than analyst estimates of $125-$140 million and suggests that the film could ultimately do around $450 million in U.S. sales alone. In part due to Disney‘s ability to create and sustain hit movies, Stan Meyers of Piper Jaffray has an ‘Overweight’ rating and a $130 target. Of the 742 elite funds we track, 67 funds owned $6.22 billion of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) and accounted for 3.80% of the float on December 31, versus 51 funds and $3.8 billion respectively on September 30.

Traders are watching Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) after Business Insider reported that the social network has a top secret research division named ‘Building 8’ that is currently trying to develop at least four new and unrevealed hardware products for the consumer sector, including products related to augmented reality, cameras, and perhaps drones. Although none of Building 8’s products have hit the market yet, some expect the group’s work to play an important role in F8, Facebook’s developer conference in April. If Facebook can diversify into hardware, its revenue and profit growth could be even more impressive. 146 top funds had a bullish position in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at the end of December, down 3 funds from the previous quarter.

On the next page, we find out why the spotlight is shining on Twitter, Rockwell Collins Inc, and B/E Aerospace Inc.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is in the spotlight after the Sunday Times reported that ‘pressure is growing’ for CEO Jack Dorsey to step down. The latest bad news for Twitter comes from a report released by professors at the University of Indiana and USC, showing potentially as many as 48 million accounts, or around 15% of Twitter’s users, being bots. That number is substantially higher than Twitter’s own estimate of 8.5%, and could hurt the company in its quest to drum up advertising sales growth. 41 top funds were long Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) as of the most recent 13-F reporting period, down 6 funds from the previous quarter.

Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL) is higher in the pre-market today after analyst Robert Spingarn of Credit Suisse raised his rating on the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’, citing in part that the market hasn’t priced in the benefits from the purchase of B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV). The analyst also likes Rockwell’s ‘strong pro-forma financial profile’ and expects multiple positive catalysts over the next four quarters. Spingarn has a $120 price target, up from the previous $92. 35 and 38 top funds were long B/E Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:BEAV) and Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL) at the end of 2016.

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