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Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Nordson Corporation (NDSN) The first quarter was a breeze as Powell pivoted, and China seemed eager to reach a deal with Trump. Both the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 delivered very strong gains as a result, with the Russell 2000, which is composed of smaller companies, outperforming the large-cap stocks slightly during the first quarter. Unfortunately sentiment shifted in May as this time China pivoted and Trump put more pressure on China by increasing tariffs. Hedge funds' top 20 stock picks performed spectacularly in this volatile environment. These stocks delivered a total gain of 18.7% through May 30th, vs. a gain of 12.1% for the S&P 500 ETF. In this article we will look at how this market volatility affected the sentiment of hedge funds towards Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN), and what that likely means for the prospects of the company and its stock. Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN)investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months.NDSNwas in 13 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with NDSN holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that NDSN isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a look at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -32% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in NDSN over the last 15 quarters. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey,Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the number one position in Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN). Royce & Associates has a $17.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second isGAMCO Investors, led by Mario Gabelli, holding a $5.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions include Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, and Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron'sScoggin. Judging by the fact that Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there were a few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Robert Joseph Caruso'sSelect Equity Groupcut the largest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth about $7.3 million in stock. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell's fund,Arrowstreet Capital, also dumped its stock, about $4.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 6 funds last quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB), NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE), SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG), and Amdocs Limited (NASDAQ:DOX). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to NDSN's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position LB,32,709689,-3 NICE,17,236328,2 SLG,19,214863,-3 DOX,26,619930,2 Average,23.5,445203,-0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 23.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $445 million. That figure was $33 million in NDSN's case. L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ:NICE) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN) is even less popular than NICE. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards NDSN. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately NDSN wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); NDSN investors were disappointed as the stock returned 0.6% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (MBT) Hedge funds run by legendary names like George Soros and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant outperformance. That's why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks. Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT)has seen an increase in hedge fund interest lately. Our calculations also showed that MBT isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to take a look at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 8% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 10 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MBT a year ago. With hedge funds' capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions). When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the largest position in Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT), worth close to $209.1 million, comprising 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Renaissance Technologies's heels is Cliff Asness ofAQR Capital Management, with a $89.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that are bullish consist of Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, D. E. Shaw'sD E Shawand Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. As aggregate interest increased, some big names were leading the bulls' herd.Ellington, managed by Mike Vranos, assembled the largest position in Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT). Ellington had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MBT positions are Paul Tudor Jones'sTudor Investment Corp, Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Management, and Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt.. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT). We will take a look at Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z), Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP), Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM), and Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU). This group of stocks' market values are closest to MBT's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position Z,33,623335,10 TRIP,27,1354971,-2 COLM,32,359364,8 ROKU,33,505452,7 Average,31.25,710781,5.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 31.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $711 million. That figure was $322 million in MBT's case. Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) is the least popular one with only 27 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (NYSE:MBT) is even less popular than TRIP. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on MBT as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on MBT as the stock returned 17.6% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPW) Hedge funds and other investment firms that we track manage billions of dollars of their wealthy clients' money, and needless to say, they are painstakingly thorough when analyzing where to invest this money, as their own wealth also depends on it. Regardless of the various methods used by elite investors like David Tepper and David Abrams, the resources they expend are second-to-none. This is especially valuable when it comes to small-cap stocks, which is where they generate their strongest outperformance, as their resources give them a huge edge when it comes to studying these stocks compared to the average investor, which is why we intently follow their activity in the small-cap space. IsMedical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW)a sound investment today? The smart money is reducing their bets on the stock. The number of long hedge fund positions retreated by 3 lately. Our calculations also showed that MPW isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. At the moment there are plenty of metrics market participants can use to evaluate publicly traded companies. Two of the less utilized metrics are hedge fund and insider trading interest. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outpace their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see the details here). Let's take a peek at the new hedge fund action surrounding Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -19% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards MPW over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) was held byCardinal Capital, which reported holding $125.6 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $37.9 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Winton Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and PEAK6 Capital Management. Due to the fact that Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) has experienced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it's safe to say that there lies a certain "tier" of fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. It's worth mentioning that Gilchrist Berg'sWater Street Capitaldumped the largest position of the "upper crust" of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $11.1 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw's D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $7.6 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) but similarly valued. These stocks are Tallgrass Energy, LP (NYSE:TGE), Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE:JLL), Berry Global Group Inc (NYSE:BERY), and Carlisle Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CSL). This group of stocks' market caps match MPW's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position TGE,11,36489,3 JLL,23,940107,4 BERY,40,2602301,-3 CSL,22,251859,1 Average,24,957689,1.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 24 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $958 million. That figure was $221 million in MPW's case. Berry Global Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tallgrass Energy, LP (NYSE:TGE) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE:MPW) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately MPW wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); MPW investors were disappointed as the stock returned 0.1% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (CBSH) We at Insider Monkey have gone over 738 13F filings that hedge funds and famous value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st. In this article we look at what those investors think of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH). IsCommerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH)an attractive stock to buy now? Prominent investors are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions advanced by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that CBSH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.CBSHwas in 13 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with CBSH holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's check out the recent hedge fund action surrounding Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 18% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CBSH over the last 15 quarters. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Cliff Asness'sAQR Capital Managementhas the largest position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH), worth close to $18.8 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager isArrowstreet Capital, led by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, holding a $14.1 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish comprise Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementand Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital. Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.ExodusPoint Capital, managed by Michael Gelband, established the most valuable position in Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH). ExodusPoint Capital had $2.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Benjamin A. Smith'sLaurion Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow'sBlue Mountain Capital. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH). These stocks are Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG), Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB), LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM), and Autoliv Inc. (NYSE:ALV). This group of stocks' market values are closest to CBSH's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GLPG,16,131126,1 HUBB,21,357892,-3 LTM,8,21281,0 ALV,13,444882,0 Average,14.5,238795,-0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $239 million. That figure was $48 million in CBSH's case. Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE:HUBB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CBSH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); CBSH investors were disappointed as the stock returned 0.8% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Astronics Corporation (ATRO) ? Does Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) represent a good buying opportunity at the moment? Let’s quickly check the hedge fund interest towards the company. Hedge fund firms constantly search out bright intellectuals and highly-experienced employees and throw away millions of dollars on satellite photos and other research activities, so it is no wonder why they tend to generate millions in profits each year. It is also true that some hedge fund players fail inconceivably on some occasions, but net net their stock picks have been generating superior risk-adjusted returns on average over the years. Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO)investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. Our calculations also showed that ATRO isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a glance at the latest hedge fund action regarding Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). At Q1's end, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 86% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 8 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in ATRO a year ago. With the smart money's sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,International Value Advisersheld the most valuable stake in Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO), which was worth $52.4 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was ACK Asset Management which amassed $31.9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Millennium Management, Royce & Associates, and Citadel Investment Group were also bullish on Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were leading the bulls' herd.Minerva Advisors, managed by David P. Cohen, initiated the biggest position in Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). Minerva Advisors had $1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLPalso initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ATRO positions are D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw, Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow'sBlue Mountain Capital, and Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). We will take a look at Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:PJC), Five Point Holdings, LLC (NYSE:FPH), Cray Inc. (NASDAQ:CRAY), and Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPA). This group of stocks' market values match ATRO's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PJC,8,46296,3 FPH,16,273200,0 CRAY,19,71237,5 LTRPA,23,279113,3 Average,16.5,167462,2.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $167 million. That figure was $104 million in ATRO's case. Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:PJC) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on ATRO as the stock returned 18.8% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (CLI) A Good Stock To Buy? Billionaire hedge fund managers such as David Abrams, Steve Cohen and Stan Druckenmiller can generate millions or even billions of dollars every year by pinning down high-potential small-cap stocks and pouring cash into these candidates. Small-cap stocks are overlooked by most investors, brokerage houses, and financial services hubs, while the unlimited research abilities of the big players within the hedge fund industry can easily identify the undervalued and high-potential stocks that reside the ignored corners of equity markets. There are numerous small-cap stocks that have turned out to be great winners, which is one of the main reasons the Insider Monkey team pays close attention to the hedge fund activity in relation to these stocks. IsMack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI)the right investment to pursue these days? Hedge funds are getting more optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund positions increased by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that cli isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.CLIwas in 11 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with CLI holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. We're going to take a gander at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 22% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 16 hedge funds with a bullish position in CLI a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Renaissance Technologiesheld the most valuable stake in Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI), which was worth $105.7 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Long Pond Capital which amassed $10 million worth of shares. Moreover, Fisher Asset Management, Springbok Capital, and Citadel Investment Group were also bullish on Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI) headfirst.Long Pond Capital, managed by John Khoury, established the largest position in Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI). Long Pond Capital had $10 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones'sTudor Investment Corpalso made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CLI positions are Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, Mike Vranos'sEllington, and John A. Levin'sLevin Capital Strategies. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS), Altra Industrial Motion Corp. (NASDAQ:AIMC), Veoneer, Inc. (NYSE:VNE), and Luxoft Holding Inc (NYSE:LXFT). This group of stocks' market caps match CLI's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PRGS,24,257769,2 AIMC,22,309252,1 VNE,8,160838,-2 LXFT,23,389871,9 Average,19.25,279433,2.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $279 million. That figure was $133 million in CLI's case. Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Veoneer, Inc. (NYSE:VNE) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CLI as the stock returned 9.3% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here's What Happens in the Extra Scenes From the Avengers: Endgame Re-Release Warning: This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame . In a bid to beat Avatar at the box office and become the highest-grossing film of all-time, Avengers: Endgame returned to theaters on June 28 with six extra minutes of footage. The new scenes include a tribute to Stan Lee, incomplete footage of the Hulk and a post-credits scene plucked directly from the upcoming Marvel Studios movie Spider-Man: Far From Home . Unless you are a true Marvel die-hard, it’s probably not worth spending the extra money to sit through a three-hour film just for a few extra tidbits at the end of the credits. So we went and watched the footage for you. Here’s everything you need to know about those extras from the Avengers: Endgame re-release. A Stan Lee tribute . \| Jordan Strauss—Invision/AP Stan Lee , the creator of many iconic comics characters who popped up in dozens of Marvel films over the years, passed away in 2018. The filmmakers behind Avengers: Endgame offer a tribute to the writer that features footage of Lee shooting his various cameos throughout the years. The tribute closes with the line, “Stan, we love you 3000” a callback to the line that Tony Stark’s daughter utters to him in Endgame. A deleted scene with an incomplete Hulk Mark Ruffalo as Hulk in Avengers: Endgame \| Marvel Studios Anthony Russo, the co-director of the film, explains that the filmmakers loved this scene that introduced the audience to Professor Hulk, but they ultimately decided to leave it on the cutting room floor. As you’ll recall, during the five-year jump in Avengers: Endgame , Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) figured out how to merge his own personality with that of the Hulk. The result was a smaller but more articulate Professor Hulk. We don’t get to see how that happens in Endgame or in the new footage, but we do get to see Professor Hulk in action. The new scene begins with a burning building. Professor Hulk, carrying a satellite dish full of innocent civilians, jumps into the frame. The CGI on Hulk is incomplete, and at first it’s hard to tell what iteration of Hulk this is. Story continues However, when Hulk speaks, it’s Bruce Banner’s voice that the audience hears. So presumably this is, indeed, the more evolved Professor Hulk. We learn that Professor Hulk has been operating as a superhero ever since Thanos’ snap. Hulk gets a phone call and asks, “Steve who?” Presumably this is Captain America (Chris Evans) calling to arrange his meeting with Professor Hulk at the diner that’s featured in the film. There, they will discuss the Avengers’ plans to travel back in time. A scene from Spider-Man: Far From Home Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders in Spider-Man: Far From Home \| Jay Maidment—Sony Pictures Spider-Man: Far From Home will be the first Marvel film to follow the events of Endgame . And it looks like even though Thanos is gone, plenty of villains are making mischief. In a scene previewing that film, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) visit a Mexican town that’s been destroyed by a cyclone. The people in the town insist that the cyclone had a face. Just then, said cyclone emerges, and a hero swoops in to help. It’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, who warns Fury and Maria to let him handle the monster. “You don’t want any part of this,” he calls out. Far From Home hits theaters on July 2.
Donald Trump Jr shares and then deletes tweet questioning Kamala Harris’s blackness Donald Trump Jr , the US president’s eldest son, retweeted and deleted a post on Thursday which falsely claimed that Kamala Harris is not “an American black”. Ms Harris is black and of Indian and Jamaican descent, but right-wing conspiracy accounts were quick to spread false information about her lineage and citizenship online. The California senator’s race was a particular target online during Thursday’s Democratic primary debate . “Kamala Harris is not an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican,” claimed a social media user with the name Ali Alexander. His tweet was re-tweeted on Thursday by Donald Trump Jr, according to The New York Times . The US president’s eldest son has 3.64m followers on Twitter. “Is this true?” Mr Trump Jr said. “Wow.” He later deleted the post, but the misinformation had spread widely by the time the tweet was removed. “Don’s tweet was simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it’s not something he had ever heard before,” a spokesperson told The New York Times. “Once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it.” Conspiracy theories questioning Ms Harris’ ethnicity spread online as the Democratic primary hopeful addressed race and politics during Thursday’s debate . “Growing up, my sister and I had to deal with the neighbour who told us her parents couldn’t play with us...because we were black,” the California senator said. She also accused Joe Biden , the former US vice president, of being previously opposed to “busing”, a policy which helped to integrate public schools in the US. Busing began in the 1970s and involved white and black students taking buses to attend schools far from where they lived in order to desegregate them. Mr Biden denies having been opposed to the policy. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day,” Ms Harris said. Story continues “And that little girl was me.” Her debate performance won praise and attention but right-wing figures were quick to try and downplay Ms Harris’ identification as “black”. Several attempted to use Ms Harris’ Indian descent against her. “Kamala Harris would be the first Asian president,” said Jack Posobiec , a notorious alt-right figure, on Saturday. Mr Posobiec is famed for promoting wholly erroneous conspiracy theories. He is best known for the Pizzagate conspiracy, which falsely alleged a Washington pizzeria was the home of a child sex abuse ring that included people such as Hilary Clinton and her then campaign chief John Podesta. The baseless allegations led to a man firing a gun at the pizza joint in 2016. Ms Harris has previously linked the right-wing discussion about her race to that faced by Barack Obama. “This is the same thing they did to Barack, this is not new to us,” she said in February 2019, in an interview broadcast by CNN . Mr Obama, who was born in Hawaii, famously faced alt-right theories that falsely claimed he was not born in the US and was therefore not eligible to be president. The so-called “birtherism” movement was championed by Donald Trump, who succeeded Mr Obama as president in 2017. “Powerful voices trying to sow hate and division among us,” Ms Harris said in the February interview. “And so we need to recognise when we’re being played.” Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, is one of a number of high profile Democrats seeking to become the party’s 2020 presidential candidate.
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About ProQR Therapeutics NV (PRQR) Insider Monkey finished processing more than 738 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds' portfolio positions as of March 31st, 2019. In this article we are going to take a look at smart money sentiment towards ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR). ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR)has seen a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds recently. Our calculations also showed that PRQR isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to check out the fresh hedge fund action regarding ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -9% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 5 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PRQR a year ago. With hedge funds' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Adage Capital Managementheld the most valuable stake in ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR), which was worth $51.8 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was OrbiMed Advisors which amassed $27.5 million worth of shares. Moreover, Perceptive Advisors, Aquilo Capital Management, and DAFNA Capital Management were also bullish on ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Judging by the fact that ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there exists a select few funds who sold off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley'sPolar Capitaldropped the largest position of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1.6 million in stock. Efrem Kamen's fund,Pura Vida Investments, also dumped its stock, about $1.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Vivint Solar Inc (NYSE:VSLR), Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS), CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA), and Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI). This group of stocks' market values are similar to PRQR's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position VSLR,11,23343,-5 UIS,19,77897,2 CEVA,10,30237,0 RVI,17,168765,4 Average,14.25,75061,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $75 million. That figure was $106 million in PRQR's case. Unisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks ProQR Therapeutics NV (NASDAQ:PRQR) is even less popular than CEVA. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards PRQR. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately PRQR wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); PRQR investors were disappointed as the stock returned -21.3% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors' consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA). CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI), Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH), and 500.com Limited (NYSE:WBAI) to gather more data points. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to go over the fresh hedge fund action encompassing CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CEVA over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Rima Senvest Managementwas the largest shareholder of CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA), with a stake worth $13.5 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Rima Senvest Management was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $4.4 million. Renaissance Technologies, D E Shaw, and Two Sigma Advisors were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position:Weld Capital Management. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn't always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don't think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund wasCaxton Associates LP). Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA). These stocks are Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI), Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH), 500.com Limited (NYSE:WBAI), and Gamco Investors Inc. (NYSE:GBL). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to CEVA's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position RVI,17,168765,4 AUPH,13,88651,5 WBAI,2,426,1 GBL,9,11633,1 Average,10.25,67369,2.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $67 million. That figure was $30 million in CEVA's case. Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand 500.com Limited (NYSE:WBAI) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CEVA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); CEVA investors were disappointed as the stock returned -11.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Live Oak Bancshares Inc (LOB) It was a rough fourth quarter for many hedge funds, which were naturally unable to overcome the big dip in the broad market, as the S&P 500 fell by about 4.8% during 2018 and average hedge fund losing about 1%. The Russell 2000, composed of smaller companies, performed even worse, trailing the S&P by more than 6 percentage points, as investors fled less-known quantities for safe havens. Luckily hedge funds were shifting their holdings into large-cap stocks. The 20 most popular hedge fund stocks actually generated an average return of 18.7% so far in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF by 6.6 percentage points. We are done processing the latest 13f filings and in this article we will study how hedge fund sentiment towards Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB) changed during the first quarter. IsLive Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB)the right pick for your portfolio? Prominent investors are in a pessimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets shrunk by 1 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that LOB isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a peek at the new hedge fund action encompassing Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards LOB over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Mendon Capital Advisorsheld the most valuable stake in Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB), which was worth $17.7 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Select Equity Group which amassed $7.3 million worth of shares. Moreover, Two Sigma Advisors, Citadel Investment Group, and Millennium Management were also bullish on Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Judging by the fact that Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB) has experienced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there lies a certain "tier" of hedge funds who sold off their full holdings in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Richard Driehaus'sDriehaus Capitalsaid goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $1.9 million in stock, and Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow's Blue Mountain Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in the third quarter. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB). We will take a look at Quotient Limited (NASDAQ:QTNT), SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRDX), FutureFuel Corp. (NYSE:FF), and Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG). This group of stocks' market caps resemble LOB's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position QTNT,20,165663,1 SRDX,17,128689,0 FF,15,53636,1 PLUG,7,43583,1 Average,14.75,97893,0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $98 million. That figure was $31 million in LOB's case. Quotient Limited (NASDAQ:QTNT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Live Oak Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:LOB) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LOB as the stock returned 17.7% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (KLXE) The government requires hedge funds and wealthy investors that crossed the $100 million equity holdings threshold are required to file a report that shows their positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn't the intention, these filings level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F filings disclosed the funds' positions on March 31. We at Insider Monkey have made an extensive database of nearly 750 of those elite funds and famous investors' filings. In this article, we analyze how these elite funds and prominent investors traded KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE) based on those filings. KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE)shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers recently. Our calculations also showed that KLXE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. Let's take a gander at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 0 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in KLXE a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,GAMCO Investorswas the largest shareholder of KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE), with a stake worth $10.8 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing GAMCO Investors was Royce & Associates, which amassed a stake valued at $9.2 million. Ancora Advisors, Forest Hill Capital, and Laurion Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE) headfirst.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, initiated the most outsized position in KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE). Arrowstreet Capital had $0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Joel Greenblatt'sGotham Asset Managementalso made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE). These stocks are Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX), BBX Capital Corporation (NYSE:BBX), William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH), and SunCoke Energy Partners LP (NYSE:SXCP). This group of stocks' market values are similar to KLXE's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position QTRX,7,29836,0 BBX,16,43192,1 WLH,23,139014,3 SXCP,5,5850,0 Average,12.75,54473,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $54 million. That figure was $37 million in KLXE's case. William Lyon Homes (NYSE:WLH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand SunCoke Energy Partners LP (NYSE:SXCP) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLXE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately KLXE wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); KLXE investors were disappointed as the stock returned -19.3% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Textainer Group Holdings Limited (TGH) A Good Stock To Buy? How do we determine whether Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors. Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH)investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. Our calculations also showed that TGH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a look at the new hedge fund action encompassing Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 43% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in TGH over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) was held byRutabaga Capital Management, which reported holding $9.7 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Royce & Associates with a $6.6 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Renaissance Technologies, Citadel Investment Group, and Millennium Management. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have jumped into Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) headfirst.PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, assembled the largest position in Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH). PEAK6 Capital Management had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupalso initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new TGH investors: D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle'sSpringbok Capital. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH). These stocks are Model N Inc (NYSE:MODN), SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC), The First of Long Island Corporation (NASDAQ:FLIC), and Ribbon Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:RBBN). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to TGH's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MODN,16,101079,2 SXC,21,96805,4 FLIC,9,37076,0 RBBN,12,37336,-3 Average,14.5,68074,0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $68 million. That figure was $21 million in TGH's case. SunCoke Energy, Inc (NYSE:SXC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The First of Long Island Corporation (NASDAQ:FLIC) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE:TGH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately TGH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); TGH investors were disappointed as the stock returned 2.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About QCR Holdings, Inc. (QCRH) Billionaire hedge fund managers such as David Abrams, Steve Cohen and Stan Druckenmiller can generate millions or even billions of dollars every year by pinning down high-potential small-cap stocks and pouring cash into these candidates. Small-cap stocks are overlooked by most investors, brokerage houses, and financial services hubs, while the unlimited research abilities of the big players within the hedge fund industry can easily identify the undervalued and high-potential stocks that reside the ignored corners of equity markets. There are numerous small-cap stocks that have turned out to be great winners, which is one of the main reasons the Insider Monkey team pays close attention to the hedge fund activity in relation to these stocks. IsQCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH)undervalued? The best stock pickers are in an optimistic mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 1 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that QCRH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. According to most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, We hone in on the crème de la crème of this group, about 750 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors administer bulk of the hedge fund industry's total capital, and by watching their inimitable stock picks, Insider Monkey has unsheathed many investment strategies that have historically exceeded the market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). We're going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action surrounding QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 11% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 13 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in QCRH a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the number one position in QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH), worth close to $18.5 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second isEndicott Management, led by Robert I. Usdan and Wayne K. Goldstein, holding a $14.6 million position; the fund has 14.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions include Paul Magidson, Jonathan Cohen. And Ostrom Enders'sCastine Capital Management, Fred Cummings'sElizabeth Park Capital Managementand Israel Englander'sMillennium Management. As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.EJF Capital, managed by Emanuel J. Friedman, assembled the biggest position in QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH). EJF Capital had $0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Roger Ibbotson'sZebra Capital Managementalso made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH) but similarly valued. These stocks are A10 Networks Inc (NYSE:ATEN), AVROBIO, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVRO), Team, Inc. (NYSE:TISI), and Quanex Building Products Corporation (NYSE:NX). This group of stocks' market values resemble QCRH's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ATEN,18,95129,1 AVRO,4,66404,-2 TISI,14,94607,2 NX,16,44813,0 Average,13,75238,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $75 million. That figure was $58 million in QCRH's case. A10 Networks Inc (NYSE:ATEN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AVROBIO, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVRO) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. QCR Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCRH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately QCRH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); QCRH investors were disappointed as the stock returned 1.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Just Energy Group, Inc. (JE) Is Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE) a good place to invest some of your money right now? We can gain invaluable insight to help us answer that question by studying the investment trends of top investors, who employ world-class Ivy League graduates, who are given immense resources and industry contacts to put their financial expertise to work. The top picks of these firms have historically outperformed the market when we account for known risk factors, making them very valuable investment ideas. Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE)has seen an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds recently. Our calculations also showed that JE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are dozens of metrics market participants use to size up their holdings. A couple of the less utilized metrics are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can outclass the broader indices by a healthy amount (see the details here). Let's take a look at the new hedge fund action encompassing Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 9 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in JE a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE) was held byArdsley Partners, which reported holding $9.6 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $4.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included GLG Partners, Arrowstreet Capital, and PDT Partners. As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE) headfirst.D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, established the most outsized position in Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE). D E Shaw had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE). These stocks are Independent Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:IBCP), Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PGC), El Pollo LoCo Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LOCO), and Triple-S Management Corp. (NYSE:GTS). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble JE's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position IBCP,11,47151,0 PGC,16,73656,1 LOCO,16,26986,0 GTS,12,76726,0 Average,13.75,56130,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $56 million. That figure was $20 million in JE's case. Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PGC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Independent Bank Corporation (NASDAQ:IBCP) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Just Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:JE) is even less popular than IBCP. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on JE as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on JE as the stock returned 26% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Ichor Holdings Ltd. (ICHR) Is Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR) a good place to invest some of your money right now? We can gain invaluable insight to help us answer that question by studying the investment trends of top investors, who employ world-class Ivy League graduates, who are given immense resources and industry contacts to put their financial expertise to work. The top picks of these firms have historically outperformed the market when we account for known risk factors, making them very valuable investment ideas. Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. ICHR has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with ICHR holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that ICHR isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to analyze the latest hedge fund action regarding Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 43% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in ICHR over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions). According to Insider Monkey's hedge fund database,Impax Asset Management, managed by Ian Simm, holds the number one position in Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR). Impax Asset Management has a $18.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Chuck Royce ofRoyce & Associates, with a $14.6 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capitaland Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, assembled the most outsized position in Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR). Arrowstreet Capital had $4.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Managementalso made a $1.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ICHR investors: Mike Vranos'sEllington, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group, and Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR). These stocks are Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:COLL), Ciner Resources LP (NYSE:CINR), Assembly Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ASMB), and Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE:BBDC). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to ICHR's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position COLL,20,87240,7 CINR,1,6943,-1 ASMB,19,132468,1 BBDC,12,17484,2 Average,13,61034,2.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $61 million. That figure was $54 million in ICHR's case. Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:COLL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Ciner Resources LP (NYSE:CINR) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Ichor Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:ICHR) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately ICHR wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); ICHR investors were disappointed as the stock returned 2.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (HRTG) Concerns over rising interest rates and expected further rate increases have hit several stocks hard during the fourth quarter. Trends reversed 180 degrees during the first quarter amid Powell's pivot and optimistic expectations towards a trade deal with China. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were increasing their overall exposure in the first quarter and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. HRTG shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with HRTG holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that hrtg isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. We're going to go over the latest hedge fund action regarding Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in HRTG over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey,Polar Capital, managed by Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, holds the most valuable position in Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). Polar Capital has a $14.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager isRoyce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which holds a $12.4 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish encompass Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Cliff Asness'sAQR Capital Management. As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves.Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, established the most outsized position in Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). Citadel Investment Group had $2.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLPalso made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new HRTG positions are Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capitaland Israel Englander'sMillennium Management. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG). We will take a look at Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACBI), RTI Surgical Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:RTIX), Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX), and Yintech Investment Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:YIN). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to HRTG's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ACBI,12,76229,-2 RTIX,14,41155,2 AKRX,16,64437,1 YIN,2,494,0 Average,11,45579,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $46 million. That figure was $33 million in HRTG's case. Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Yintech Investment Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:YIN) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc (NYSE:HRTG) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately HRTG wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); HRTG investors were disappointed as the stock returned 3.6% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Exela Technologies, Inc. (XELA) Anymore Hedge funds and other investment firms that we track manage billions of dollars of their wealthy clients' money, and needless to say, they are painstakingly thorough when analyzing where to invest this money, as their own wealth also depends on it. Regardless of the various methods used by elite investors like David Tepper and David Abrams, the resources they expend are second-to-none. This is especially valuable when it comes to small-cap stocks, which is where they generate their strongest outperformance, as their resources give them a huge edge when it comes to studying these stocks compared to the average investor, which is why we intently follow their activity in the small-cap space. Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. XELA investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world's most elite money managers of late. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with XELA holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that XELA isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -23% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 12 hedge funds with a bullish position in XELA a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey,Nantahala Capital Management, managed by Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack, holds the number one position in Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA). Nantahala Capital Management has a $28.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held byGreenlight Capital, led by David Einhorn, holding a $26.8 million position; the fund has 1.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish consist of Jeffrey Gates'sGates Capital Management, Curtis Schenker and Craig Effron'sScogginand Marc Lasry'sAvenue Capital. Since Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Jody LaNasa'sSerengeti Asset Managementsold off the largest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $1.4 million in stock. Jim Simons's fund,Renaissance Technologies, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA) but similarly valued. These stocks are American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI), International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW), New Gold Inc. (NYSEAMEX:NGD), and Star Gas Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SGU). This group of stocks' market values resemble XELA's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position APEI,15,76344,-1 INSW,11,160250,3 NGD,13,47671,-2 SGU,8,99694,0 Average,11.75,95990,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $96 million. That figure was $85 million in XELA's case. American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Star Gas Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SGU) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Exela Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:XELA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately XELA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); XELA investors were disappointed as the stock returned -40.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM) The 700+ hedge funds and famous money managers tracked by Insider Monkey have already compiled and submitted their 13F filings for the first quarter, which unveil their equity positions as of March 31. We went through these filings, fixed typos and other more significant errors and identified the changes in hedge fund portfolios. Our extensive review of these public filings is finally over, so this article is set to reveal the smart money sentiment towards Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM). IsSilvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM)a buy right now? Prominent investors are becoming less hopeful. The number of long hedge fund positions dropped by 3 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that svm isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Today there are dozens of tools shareholders use to grade their stock investments. Two of the most underrated tools are hedge fund and insider trading moves. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a solid amount (see the details here). [caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption] Let's take a peek at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -25% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards SVM over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM) was held byRenaissance Technologies, which reported holding $7.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Marshall Wace LLP with a $3.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Sprott Asset Management, Arrowstreet Capital, and Two Sigma Advisors. Since Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM) has faced a decline in interest from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Cliff Asness'sAQR Capital Managementcut the biggest position of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, worth about $0.3 million in stock. Peter Muller's fund,PDT Partners, also cut its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM). These stocks are United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. (NASDAQ:USLM), Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISI), Tower International Inc (NYSE:TOWR), and Diplomat Pharmacy Inc (NYSE:DPLO). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to SVM's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position USLM,4,31382,2 FISI,11,39671,1 TOWR,13,41821,-3 DPLO,14,85694,4 Average,10.5,49642,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $50 million. That figure was $18 million in SVM's case. Diplomat Pharmacy Inc (NYSE:DPLO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand United States Lime & Minerals, Inc.(NASDAQ:USLM) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately SVM wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); SVM investors were disappointed as the stock returned -5.3% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (GTYH) A Good Stock To Buy? Is GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH) a good investment right now? We check hedge fund and billionaire investor sentiment before delving into hours of research. Hedge funds spend millions of dollars on Ivy League graduates, expert networks, and get tips from investment bankers and industry insiders. Sure they sometimes fail miserably, but their consensus stock picks historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk factors. IsGTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH)the right pick for your portfolio? Investors who are in the know are getting less bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets shrunk by 2 recently. Our calculations also showed that gtyh isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. To the average investor there are dozens of metrics stock traders use to appraise their holdings. A duo of the most under-the-radar metrics are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here). We're going to check out the key hedge fund action surrounding GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -18% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 20 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in GTYH a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey,Alyeska Investment Group, managed by Anand Parekh, holds the most valuable position in GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH). Alyeska Investment Group has a $10 million call position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Alyeska Investment Group's heels is John M. Angelo and Michael L. Gordon ofAngelo Gordon & Co, with a $10 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Seth Klarman'sBaupost Group, Glenn Russell Dubin'sHighbridge Capital Managementand John A. Levin'sLevin Capital Strategies. Because GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's easy to see that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Paul Singer'sElliott Managementsold off the biggest stake of the "upper crust" of funds watched by Insider Monkey, worth about $44.2 million in stock. Paul Glazer's fund,Glazer Capital, also cut its stock, about $38.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH) but similarly valued. These stocks are Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN), Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT), Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSI), and Kaleido BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLDO). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to GTYH's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position COWN,21,96363,4 FLNT,9,6703,4 CPSI,18,45626,5 KLDO,6,17238,6 Average,13.5,41483,4.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $41 million. That figure was $14 million in GTYH's case. Cowen Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kaleido BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLDO) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTYH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately GTYH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); GTYH investors were disappointed as the stock returned -4.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (ADAP) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds? Although the masses and most of the financial media blame hedge funds for their exorbitant fee structure and disappointing performance, these investors have proved to have great stock picking abilities over the years (that's why their assets under management continue to swell). We believe hedge fund sentiment should serve as a crucial tool of an individual investor’s stock selection process, as it may offer great insights of how the brightest minds of the finance industry feel about specific stocks. After all, these people have access to smartest analysts and expensive data/information sources that individual investors can't match. So should one consider investing in Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP)? The smart money sentiment can provide an answer to this question. IsAdaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP)going to take off soon? Hedge funds are selling. The number of bullish hedge fund bets were trimmed by 2 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that ADAP isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.ADAPwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with ADAP positions at the end of the previous quarter. Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to take a look at the new hedge fund action regarding Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -17% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards ADAP over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Matrix Capital Managementheld the most valuable stake in Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP), which was worth $120.4 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $11.1 million worth of shares. Moreover, OrbiMed Advisors, GLG Partners, and Rock Springs Capital Management were also bullish on Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Due to the fact that Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of fund managers that slashed their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Dmitry Balyasny'sBalyasny Asset Managementdumped the biggest investment of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $3.3 million in call options. Israel Englander's fund,Millennium Management, also sold off its call options, about $1.2 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) but similarly valued. We will take a look at PCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCMI), CVR Partners LP (NYSE:UAN), Gravity Co., LTD. (NASDAQ:GRVY), and Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRBP). This group of stocks' market caps resemble ADAP's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PCMI,17,40529,6 UAN,5,43910,1 GRVY,1,693,0 CRBP,9,47522,3 Average,8,33164,2.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $33 million. That figure was $152 million in ADAP's case. PCM, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCMI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Gravity Co., LTD. (NASDAQ:GRVY) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately ADAP wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on ADAP were disappointed as the stock returned -19.5% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Fluent, Inc. (FLNT) "Since 2006, value stocks (IVE vs IVW) have underperformed 11 of the 13 calendar years and when they beat growth, it wasn't by much. Cumulatively, through this week, it has been a 122% differential (up 52% for value vs up 174% for growth). This appears to be the longest and most severe drought for value investors since data collection began. It will go our way eventually as there are too many people paying far too much for today's darlings, both public and private. Further, the ten-year yield of 2.5% (pre-tax) isn't attractive nor is real estate. We believe the value part of the global equity market is the only place to earn solid risk adjusted returns and we believe those returns will be higher than normal," said Vilas Fund in itsQ1 investor letter. We aren't sure whether value stocks outperform growth, but we follow hedge fund investor letters to understand where the markets and stocks might be going. That's why we believe it would be worthwhile to take a look at the hedge fund sentiment on Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT) in order to identify whether reputable and successful top money managers continue to believe in its potential. Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. FLNT has seen an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds recently. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with FLNT holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that flnt isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. [caption id="attachment_30621" align="aligncenter" width="487"] Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management[/caption] We're going to take a glance at the recent hedge fund action regarding Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 80% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in FLNT over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,D E Shawwas the largest shareholder of Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT), with a stake worth $2.6 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing D E Shaw was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $2.1 million. AQR Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Ellington were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were leading the bulls' herd.AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, established the biggest position in Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT). AQR Capital Management had $1.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupalso initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new FLNT positions are Mike Vranos'sEllington, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, and Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSI), Kaleido BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLDO), OptiNose, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTN), and Daqo New Energy Corp (NYSE:DQ). This group of stocks' market valuations match FLNT's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CPSI,18,45626,5 KLDO,6,17238,6 OPTN,3,6910,-3 DQ,5,9512,-6 Average,8,19822,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $20 million. That figure was $7 million in FLNT's case. Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand OptiNose, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTN) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Fluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately FLNT wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on FLNT were disappointed as the stock returned -3% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (OLBK) Hedge funds are not perfect. They have their bad picks just like everyone else. Facebook, a stock hedge funds have loved dearly, lost nearly 40% of its value at one point in 2018. Although hedge funds are not perfect, their consensus picks do deliver solid returns, however. Our data show the top 20 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 6 percentage points so far in 2019. Because hedge funds have a lot of resources and their consensus picks do well, we pay attention to what they think. In this article, we analyze what the elite funds think of Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK). Hedge fund interest inOld Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK)shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCFT), Franklin Financial Network Inc (NYSE:FSB), and One Madison Corporation (NYSE:OMAD) to gather more data points. To most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, Our experts look at the aristocrats of this club, around 750 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people shepherd the majority of all hedge funds' total asset base, and by keeping track of their top stock picks, Insider Monkey has revealed a number of investment strategies that have historically outrun Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). We're going to take a look at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 7 hedge funds with a bullish position in OLBK a year ago. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions). More specifically,Mendon Capital Advisorswas the largest shareholder of Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK), with a stake worth $17.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Mendon Capital Advisors was Renaissance Technologies, which amassed a stake valued at $9.9 million. Royce & Associates, Basswood Capital, and Elizabeth Park Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Seeing as Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK) has experienced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there exists a select few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Paul Magidson, Jonathan Cohen. And Ostrom Enders'sCastine Capital Managementdumped the largest position of the "upper crust" of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $4.6 million in stock, and Lawrence Seidman's Seidman Investment Partnership was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK). We will take a look at MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCFT), Franklin Financial Network Inc (NYSE:FSB), One Madison Corporation (NYSE:OMAD), and Foundation Building Materials, Inc. (NYSE:FBM). This group of stocks' market values resemble OLBK's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MCFT,16,105346,-4 FSB,4,13855,-1 OMAD,13,65860,2 FBM,8,7482,2 Average,10.25,48136,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $48 million. That figure was $37 million in OLBK's case. MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCFT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Franklin Financial Network Inc (NYSE:FSB) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Old Line Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLBK) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately OLBK wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); OLBK investors were disappointed as the stock returned 2.6% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (LTS) It seems that the masses and most of the financial media hate hedge funds and what they do, but why is this hatred of hedge funds so prominent? At the end of the day, these asset management firms do not gamble the hard-earned money of the people who are on the edge of poverty. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 12.1% in the first 5 months of this year (through May 30th). Conversely, hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the same 5-month period, with the majority of these stock picks outperforming the broader market benchmark. Coincidence? It might happen to be so, but it is unlikely. Our research covering the last 18 years indicates that hedge funds' stock picks generate superior risk-adjusted returns. That's why we believe it isn't a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS). Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. LTS investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds lately. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with LTS holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that lts isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. [caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption] We're going to check out the latest hedge fund action surrounding Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 7 hedge funds with a bullish position in LTS a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the number one position in Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS), worth close to $1.1 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager isMillennium Management, led by Israel Englander, holding a $1 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish comprise Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLP, D. E. Shaw'sD E Shawand Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, initiated the largest position in Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS). Arrowstreet Capital had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capitalalso made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LTS investors: John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorsand Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle'sSpringbok Capital. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS). We will take a look at Sprague Resources LP (NYSE:SRLP), Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY), Veritiv Corp (NYSE:VRTV), and Limoneira Company (NASDAQ:LMNR). This group of stocks' market values are similar to LTS's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position SRLP,2,292,1 ARAY,15,89404,-2 VRTV,12,101897,2 LMNR,2,8529,-2 Average,7.75,50031,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $50 million. That figure was $4 million in LTS's case. Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sprague Resources LP (NYSE:SRLP) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE:LTS) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on LTS as the stock returned 25.6% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
California gas tax rises another 6 cents a gallon Monday SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's nation-leading gas prices are set to climb even higher Monday, when the state gas tax increases another 5.6 cents a gallon. It's the latest increase from a 2017 law designed to raise about $5 billion a year for road and mass transit programs. A 12 cent-per-gallon boost came that November, and voters last year rejected a Republican-led effort to repeal the law. But Southern California voters did recall one Democratic lawmaker who helped pass the measure. California motorists were paying an average $3.75 per gallon as of late June, far above the national average of $2.71 calculated by AAA . The gas tax will increase to 47.3 cents a gallon July 1, according to the state Board of Equalization, and continue to increase indefinitely starting next year to keep up with the California Consumer Price Index. The money is split between state and local governments, with much of going to fix potholes and rebuild crumbling roads and bridges. Some is also going to public transportation, biking and walking trails, and other projects. Republicans pointed out again that the tax is increasing even as Gov. Gavin Newsom and fellow Democrats complained about high gas prices. Newsom in April blamed possible "inappropriate industry practices" rather than higher taxes and stricter environmental rules, and California Energy Commission investigators subsequently pointed the finger at "possible market manipulation" by retailers. The impending 5.6 cents per gallon boost "will make California less affordable and take another $850 million out of our families' pocketbooks," said Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield. Assembly Republicans floated an amendment to delay the increase, but majority Democrats blocked the attempt two weeks before the increase takes effect. Here are several other laws taking effect at mid-year: — California becomes the first state to require physicians, surgeons, osteopaths, naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, podiatrists and acupuncturists to notify patients if they are put on probation for serious misconduct. The 2018 bill by Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat from San Mateo, requires the notices for sexual misconduct with a patient; drug abuse; a criminal conviction involving harm to patients; and inappropriate prescribing resulting in patient harm and five or more years of probation. The measure was backed by athletes victimized by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who admitted sexually abusing women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. Story continues — Law enforcement agencies will have 45 days to make public body camera footage recorded during an incident causing death or serious injury. The 2018 bill by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco has exceptions if the agency demonstrates "by clear and convincing evidence" that release would substantially interfere with an ongoing investigation or violate the privacy of someone in the footage. The law is one response to lawmakers' concern over shootings of suspects by police. Proponents said the release will help rebuild trust with communities. — California will tighten its already strict firearms laws by requiring background checks for anyone buying ammunition and barring ammo sales except through licensed dealers. Gun owners already in the state's databases will have to pay a $1 fee each time they buy bullets or shotgun shells, while others can buy longer term licenses. Dealers have seen a spike in sales as the state prepares to implement the restrictions imposed by voters in 2016. Opponents are suing to block the restrictions, arguing that they will mainly harm law-abiding owners. — California will complete its statewide ban on all lead ammunition for hunting. The Center for Biological Diversity says the ban will reduce the risk that toxic fragments from lead bullets or shot will poison critically endangered California condors along with other raptors and scavengers. Lead ammunition can still be used for target shooting. The center says at least 15 other states have some restrictions, but California's statewide ban on lead ammunition for hunting is the most sweeping. The state began phasing out its use under a 2013 law. — It will be illegal for anyone to use a social media bot with a fake identity with the intent to spur a purchase or influence a vote. The 2018 bill by Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat from Van Nuys, requires the bots to be clearly identified in response to concerns that the automated bots can spread inflammatory or false information and were used to post messages about presidential candidates in 2016. — Hospitals must have a written homeless patient discharge planning policy and log which homeless patients are discharged and the destinations where they are released. The 2018 bill by former state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, requires the plans to include coordinating services and referrals for homeless patients with the county behavioral health agency, health care and social service agencies in the region, health care providers, and nonprofit social service providers. It's aimed at stopping the practice of "patient dumping" of indigent patients. — Homeless and lower income military veterans can have the word "veteran" printed on their drivers' licenses for free. The 2017 bill by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat from Fullerton, waives what had been a $5 processing fee to allow that designation. She said it can make it easier for veterans to access services without carrying around discharge papers and veterans separation documents. — It will be unlawful to sell larger quantities of non-odorized butane. The 2018 bill by Assemblyman Tim Grayson, D-Concord, is designed to stem the use of the highly flammable solvent to manufacture hash oil from cannabis. Illegal operations have resulted in numerous explosions and dozens of deaths in recent years. The law exempts lighters and small containers of non-odorized butane used to refill them.
On-fire Starc warns rivals that his best is yet to come Australian perfection has yet to be achieved in the eyes of Mitchell Starc despite guiding his side to a seventh win at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Starc’s record-breaking third career World Cup five-wicket haul proved characteristically destructive as Australia bowled New Zealand out for 157, securing victory by 86 runs at Lord’s. Imposing it may have been but when it comes to putting together a faultless game, the left-armer believes his side still has some way to go. Just once have Australia tasted defeat this tournament when losing out to India at the Oval, so it’s ominous when Starc says the best is yet to come. “We've always spoken about peaking towards the back end of the tournament, and we're still searching for that perfect performance,” he said. “We're not quite there yet. We're showing glimpses of what we are capable of with the ball and with the bat and in the field, but we have still got room to improve, and that's exciting for this group. “We've got to play our best game in the semi now and hopefully better that in the final, and that's what tournament play is all about. “If we keep continuing to improve every game, whether we play New Zealand or India or anyone, we're going to have to plan really well and then execute on the day. “It’s a great result beating New Zealand, but one win is not going to win you the World Cup.” READ: Carey coming of age for Australia with bat as well as behind the stumps Just five players now boast more than Starc’s haul of 46 World Cup wickets, with none coming close to the mesmeric 12.97 average he boasts with the ball. But the 2015 Player of the Tournament insists it’s wins more than personal records that dominate his motivation having lifted the trophy four years ago. Here's how the table looks after the penultimate double-header of #CWC19 👀 pic.twitter.com/G4ZzxLJ9NF — Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 29, 2019 However, with performances such as his 5/26 against the Black Caps, the best bowling figures of the tournament so far, the 29-year-old will not be a passenger in his bid to repeat the feat. Story continues But he was far from a lone wolf in pulling off the victory, with half-centuries from Alex Carey and Usman Khawaja – after a rare failure from the openers – helping Australia to 243/9, batting first on a wicket that wasn’t easy to negotiate. “Records don’t mean much if we don't win the World Cup,” added Starc. “I’m just stoked to be playing a part in this group and continue to contribute. “A big part of our victories is our calmness and I think that's probably led by Finchie [captain Aaron Finch]. He's been fantastic as a captain. “I think there's a real sense of calmness around the whole group, not just from the bowlers but from Finchie to all the fielders. “Even when things are not quite happening for us, it's still very calm. We still know what we want to do. It goes back to the execution. “It's that clearness as a whole group out on the field is what's probably instilling that confidence in the bowler to execute what they want to do.” © ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2019
Veteran pass rusher Connor Barwin hopes to return to the Eagles Edge rusher Connor Barwin says he wants to play up to two more years in the NFL, but if he had a choice, he’d return to Philadelphia. The 10-year veteran, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-16, has been in contact with general manager Howie Roseman about a possible reunion. “I’m trying to come back and play for the Eagles,” Barwin said, via Heavy.com . “I’m training right now and I’ve talked to Howie and they’re going to see if they need any depth on the edge and so I’m going to wait until camp starts before I sign anywhere else, but obviously I’m not going to wait too long. But the Eagles know that’s where I want to be.” Barwin and his wife still live in Philadelphia, and they had their first child last year. Despite playing the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants, he’s stayed involved with the community with charity work . Rumblings of a potential reunion reached a fever pitch two weeks ago, when Barwin posted a picture at Lincoln Financial Field to his Instagram story. That he was there to speak on a panel about environmental justice and sports only partially quelled the excitement. What’s Connor Barwin up to? #Eagles pic.twitter.com/EiVDqN4zju — Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerr247) June 19, 2019 Barwin is no longer in his 2014 Pro Bowl form, but he’s hoping to contribute as a key reserve. He only accumulated 12 tackles, four quarterback hits, and four pass defenses last season, but perhaps a switch back to defensive end would help. The Eagles lost outside linebacker Jordan Hicks in free agency this offseason, but they re-signed defensive end Brandon Graham to a three-year, $40 million contract in May with $27 million guaranteed. Beyond that, they have other quality veterans in Derek Barnett and Vinny Curry. Story continues “I’m going into my 11th year and I’m ready to just be a situational player,” Barwin said. “Howie knows. I’ll be there if one of the three guys get hurt or if something happens, or to mentor the younger guys. You know, Philly’s situation is BG, Vinny, and DB — three great guys on the edge — and I would come in to support those guys. If I don’t play in Philly, it would be the same situation somewhere else. Be the third edge guy.” Barwin is making himself available if the Eagles want him. Given that he only made $2 million last season and $3.5 million the year before, he won't break the bank. The Eagles also have over $21 million in effective cap space — 12th most in the league — so the ball is in their court. Edge rusher Connor Barwin hopes to return to Philadlephia. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) More from Yahoo Sports: Why Alex Morgan was key to USWNT despite not scoring Report: Kevin Durant’s free agent wish list has four teams Rapinoe steals show as USWNT beats co-favorite France Report: Kawhi wants Magic involved in Lakers meeting
Blake Bell's Inspiring Journey from Vine Creator to Mind Cleanse App Developer NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2019 /Blake Bell is a young entrepreneur and a native of Newport Beach, CA. His passion for innovation comes from his early days in the Louisiana State University, which he later combined with the disciplined mindset that he developed during a 6-year stage in the Army National Guard to become a successful brand creator nowadays. His recent popularity on social media has earned him the status of an influencer in both internet humor and wellness. Until 5 years ago, Blake was a successful content creator on Vine. At the same time, his girlfriend, now-fiancé Riley Beek was developing her own persona on Instagram as a daily provider of funny memes and gags. When Vine's popularity started to fade out, Blake co-founded @Bitc.h with Riley and his content creation manager, Hau Ma. The Instagram profile quickly emerged as one of the best-known sources for entertainment on the platform, and their audience started growing at an alarming pace. In less than 2 years,@Bitc.hattracted more than 300k followers. Thanks to Blake's marketing skills, Riley's ambition and Hau Ma's creativity the Instagram account exploded in the next years reaching over 5.2 million followers. One of their winning moves was transforming videos into memes. Also, profitable collaborations with big-name brands like Burger King, AOL, Tinder, and Match.com increased their online visibility. Blake's determination to expand his work horizons and desire to give something back to the community merged into his latest project: a sleep hypnosis app called Mind Cleanse. This iOS app wants to help millions of Americans struggling with insomnia and restlessness. It uses meditation techniques and premium content from professional hypnotherapists including bedtime stories and tracks to guide users to a peaceful slumber. For Mind Cleanse, Blake used his solid background in content creation to come up with funny memes and entertaining gags about trouble falling asleep. The app is only 2 months old, but it has already gained massive support since its release in the Apple store. Many users appreciate the app's powerful features that help them fall asleep in less than 5 or 10 minutes of use, depending on their hypnosis and meditation preferences. Blake Bell is the current founder and CEO of Mind Cleanse, but he is still involved in the @Bitc.h project on Instagram with his fiancé Riley. Together they manage Beach Social, which is the social media marketing agency behind the page. Blake uses his knowledge of online marketing and his passion for meditation and sleep-inducing techniques to deliver a top-notch sleep hypnosis app. Contrary to other apps in the niche, like Slumber, Headspace, and Calm, Mind Cleanse comes with an attractive collection of bedtime stories. Users can pick between different levels of meditation and adult hypnotic tales to reduce insomnia and get a good night's rest. Due to his involvement in social media and creative productivity in app technology, Blake has evolved into a remarkable influencer with a solid following. In 2019, he is on a straight path to reaching his goal of making millions of people's lives better, inspire newcomers in the business to reach for the stars and make their dreams come true. For more information contact:Blake@beachsocial.com SOURCE:Blake Bell View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/550339/Blake-Bells-Inspiring-Journey-from-Vine-Creator-to-Mind-Cleanse-App-Developer
Why Would Billionaires Ever Want a Wealth Tax? It's still well over a year before the 2020 presidential election, but already, a huge group of candidates has not only formed but started to debate key issues facing the nation. One idea that has become popular among many candidates isaddressing the income and wealth inequalitythat the U.S. faces by imposing new taxes on the richest American taxpayers. Back in January, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts proposed a new wealth tax on Americans. With a threshold set high enough to affect only the smallest number of taxpayers, the Warren proposal attracted attention from both advocates and opponents. Yet just last week, 20 individuals purporting to be among the top 0.1% in the U.S. in terms of financial net worth called on all candidates for president to support a wealth tax -- even though they'd be among those who'd have to pay it. To understand exactlyhow a wealth tax would work, the Warren proposal offers a reasonable example. Under the terms of the proposal, those Americans whose assets are worth more than $50 million would pay a 2% wealth tax on the amount by which their net worth exceeded the threshold. For example, if you had $60 million in assets, then you would pay the 2% tax on $60 million minus $50 million. That would result in a wealth tax of $200,000. For billionaires, an additional 1 percentage point surtax would apply, making the total tax rate 3%. Image source: Getty Images. Proponents of the proposal like it for a couple of reasons. First, it would put the burden of taxes squarely on those with the most money to pay them, potentially reducing wealth inequality. Moreover, targeting those with the most to pay could generate considerable amounts of revenue, with some estimates predicting $2.75 trillion in taxes over a 10-year period from roughly 75,000 American taxpayers. One might think that people like George Soros,Facebookco-founder Chris Hughes, and current and future heirs like Abigail Disney and Molly Munger would oppose wealth taxes on the basis that they'd be the people hit hardest by the tax. Yet they and 15 other wealthy Americans support such a tax, and they made their reasoning clear in anopen letterto the 2020 presidential candidates. The reasoning of these billionaires and multi-millionaires boiled down to several key points: • Revenue from a wealth tax could reinvigorate the U.S. economy, allowing for investment in infrastructure, education, child care, and job creation to boost productivity and promote growth. • A wealth tax would help alleviateperceived unfairness in income tax rates, where ultra-wealthy taxpayers often get preferential treatment for the types of income on which they commonly rely. • Paying something closer to what one can afford gives wealthy Americans an opportunity to meet their patriotic duty and reduces the concentration of money that threatens to erode democracy in favor of interest-driven politics. • Major problems like healthcare and climate change require huge amounts of capital to implement solutions, and only a wealth tax has the capacity to produce sufficient financial resources to meet those challenges effectively. Even with this explanation, it's reasonable to try to look between the lines to search for other motivations. Although any taxpayer could voluntarily pay more in tax to the U.S. Treasury, those signing this open letter likely want the burden spread fairly across the ranks of the wealthiest American taxpayers. Only ifalltop-net-worth Americans participate can they reach their goals. Yet the proponents of the wealth tax seem to have a viewpoint that's different from what you'd see across most of the nation's population. Rather than working to cut their tax bills, these individuals stand ready to pay moreifthe resulting tax revenue gets used in a way they consider productive. It's likely that there'd be considerable debate among the ranks of the ultra-wealthy aboutwhat types of government spending would be appropriate or desirable. Given the current alignment of power in Washington, no wealth tax will pass before the 2020 election offers the public the opportunity to replace enough of those in office to get such legislation through. Yet if calls to enact a wealth tax get louder over the next year, it'll be interesting to see how big an issue it could become during the campaign. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Dan Caplingerowns shares of BRK-B and DIS. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends BRK-B, FB, and DIS. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (UCTT) ? At Insider Monkey, we pore over the filings of nearly 750 top investment firms every quarter, a process we have now completed for the latest reporting period. The data we've gathered as a result gives us access to a wealth of collective knowledge based on these firms' portfolio holdings as of March 31. In this article, we will use that wealth of knowledge to determine whether or not Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT) makes for a good investment right now. Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. UCTT shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with UCTT holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that uctt isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. To most stock holders, hedge funds are seen as worthless, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at present, Our experts choose to focus on the upper echelon of this club, around 750 funds. These investment experts have their hands on bulk of the hedge fund industry's total asset base, and by watching their inimitable equity investments, Insider Monkey has deciphered several investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). Let's take a glance at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -10% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards UCTT over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey,Divisar Capital, managed by Steven Baughman, holds the largest position in Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT). Divisar Capital has a $23.1 million position in the stock, comprising 7.5% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second isRoyce & Associates, led by Chuck Royce, holding a $14.7 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that hold long positions contain Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk'sGRT Capital Partners. Seeing as Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few money managers that decided to sell off their full holdings in the third quarter. It's worth mentioning that Eric Singer'sVIEX Capital Advisorssaid goodbye to the largest stake of the "upper crust" of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth about $6.7 million in stock. Israel Englander's fund,Millennium Management, also dropped its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT) but similarly valued. These stocks are ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN), TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRR), PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS), and Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEAMEX:BHB). All of these stocks' market caps are closest to UCTT's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position IMGN,16,69185,0 TCRR,5,39383,5 PDFS,9,45669,-2 BHB,3,16489,0 Average,8.25,42682,0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $43 million. That figure was $46 million in UCTT's case. ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMGN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSEAMEX:BHB) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UCTT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on UCTT as the stock returned 32.4% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About PDF Solutions, Inc. (PDFS) Before putting in our own effort and resources into finding a good investment, we can quickly utilize hedge fund expertise to give us a quick glimpse of whether that stock could make for a good addition to our portfolios. The odds are not exactly stacked in investors' favor when it comes to beating the market, as evidenced by the fact that less than 49% of the stocks in the S&P 500 did so during the second quarter. The stats were even worse in recent years when most of the advances in the market were due to large gains by FAANG stocks. However, one bright side for individual investors was the strong performance of hedge funds' top consensus picks. This year hedge funds' top 20 stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 6.6 percentage points through May 30th. Thus, we can see that the tireless research and efforts of hedge funds to identify winning stocks can work to our advantage when we know how to use the data. While not all of their picks will be winners, our odds are much better following their best stock picks than trying to go it alone. IsPDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS)ready to rally soon? Money managers are getting less optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund bets shrunk by 2 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that pdfs isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. [caption id="attachment_747612" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Eric Singer of VIEX Capital[/caption] We're going to take a peek at the new hedge fund action surrounding PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 8 hedge funds with a bullish position in PDFS a year ago. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey,VIEX Capital Advisors, managed by Eric Singer, holds the biggest position in PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS). VIEX Capital Advisors has a $21.8 million position in the stock, comprising 19.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held byDivisar Capital, managed by Steven Baughman, which holds a $13.6 million position; 4.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Chuck Royce'sRoyce & Associates, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capitaland John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisors. Judging by the fact that PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's safe to say that there were a few funds that elected to cut their full holdings in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Bradley LouisáRadoff'sFondren Managementsold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $0.7 million in stock. Cliff Asness's fund,AQR Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS). We will take a look at Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB), Insteel Industries Inc (NASDAQ:IIIN), Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:BHR), and New Frontier Corp (NYSE:NFC). This group of stocks' market values are closest to PDFS's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BHB,3,16489,0 IIIN,8,52127,-4 BHR,13,69930,1 NFC,13,64688,-1 Average,9.25,50809,-1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $51 million. That figure was $46 million in PDFS's case. Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:BHR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on PDFS, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 4% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (ANH) A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended March 31, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH). Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as XBiotech Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIT), PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE:PAR), and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) to gather more data points. At the moment there are plenty of formulas investors put to use to assess stocks. A couple of the best formulas are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can outclass the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see the details here). We're going to take a look at the recent hedge fund action regarding Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 11 hedge funds with a bullish position in ANH a year ago. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Renaissance Technologiesheld the most valuable stake in Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH), which was worth $27.6 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Millennium Management which amassed $1.8 million worth of shares. Moreover, Blue Mountain Capital, Almitas Capital, and Caxton Associates LP were also bullish on Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Seeing as Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, it's safe to say that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q3. Intriguingly, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt.sold off the largest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, worth about $0.2 million in stock, and Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH) but similarly valued. These stocks are XBiotech Inc. (NASDAQ:XBIT), PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE:PAR), Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), and Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE). This group of stocks' market valuations match ANH's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position XBIT,7,7193,5 PAR,6,22917,2 BKS,18,31372,1 GLRE,3,1831,-2 Average,8.5,15828,1.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $16 million. That figure was $32 million in ANH's case. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (NYSE:ANH) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately ANH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on ANH were disappointed as the stock returned -5.4% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Cardlytics, Inc. (CDLX) Is Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy League graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments and it is a fact that hedge funds' picks don't beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk. Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. CDLX has seen an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with CDLX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that cdlx isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's take a look at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 50% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 7 hedge funds with a bullish position in CDLX a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX) was held byCannell Capital, which reported holding $10.4 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Shannon River Fund Management with a $5.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Hudson Bay Capital Management, G2 Investment Partners Management, and Springbok Capital. As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX) headfirst.Hudson Bay Capital Management, managed by Sander Gerber, created the most outsized position in Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX). Hudson Bay Capital Management had $4.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLPalso initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CDLX positions are Mario Gabelli'sGAMCO Investorsand Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX). These stocks are Zix Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIXI), American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSWA), Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR), and Ring Energy Inc (NYSE:REI). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to CDLX's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ZIXI,21,70511,8 AMSWA,11,36281,3 BSRR,6,15012,-1 REI,13,32879,5 Average,12.75,38671,3.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $39 million. That figure was $26 million in CDLX's case. Zix Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIXI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Cardlytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDLX) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CDLX as the stock returned 47.8% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About HCI Group, Inc. (HCI) Does HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) represent a good buying opportunity at the moment? Let’s quickly check the hedge fund interest towards the company. Hedge fund firms constantly search out bright intellectuals and highly-experienced employees and throw away millions of dollars on satellite photos and other research activities, so it is no wonder why they tend to generate millions in profits each year. It is also true that some hedge fund players fail inconceivably on some occasions, but net net their stock picks have been generating superior risk-adjusted returns on average over the years. HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. At the end of this article we will also compare HCI to other stocks including Capital City Bank Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCBG), Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO), and Pulse Biosciences, Inc (NASDAQ:PLSE) to get a better sense of its popularity. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. [caption id="attachment_745225" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Noam Gottesman, GLG Partners[/caption] We're going to take a peek at the key hedge fund action regarding HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards HCI over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Chuck Royce'sRoyce & Associateshas the largest position in HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI), worth close to $7.4 million, amounting to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second isRenaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, holding a $4.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish consist of Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partners, Nick Niell'sArrowgrass Capital Partnersand John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisors. Seeing as HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Howard Marks'sOaktree Capital Managementdumped the biggest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth close to $11 million in stock, and Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $7.7 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI). These stocks are Capital City Bank Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCBG), Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO), Pulse Biosciences, Inc (NASDAQ:PLSE), and Capital Southwest Corporation (NASDAQ:CSWC). All of these stocks' market caps are closest to HCI's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CCBG,4,6142,2 INO,5,6343,0 PLSE,1,264,-1 CSWC,7,45729,-1 Average,4.25,14620,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 4.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $15 million. That figure was $20 million in HCI's case. Capital Southwest Corporation (NASDAQ:CSWC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Pulse Biosciences, Inc (NASDAQ:PLSE) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks HCI Group, Inc. (NYSE:HCI) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately HCI wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on HCI were disappointed as the stock returned -3.6% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (MPAA) Like everyone else, elite investors make mistakes. Some of their top consensus picks, such as Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba, have not done well in Q4 due to various reasons. Nevertheless, the data show elite investors' consensus picks have done well on average over the long-term. The top 20 stocks among hedge funds beat the S&P 500 Index ETF by more than 6 percentage points so far this year. Because their consensus picks have done well, we pay attention to what elite funds think before doing extensive research on a stock. In this article, we take a closer look at Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA) from the perspective of those elite funds. IsMotorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA)a bargain? Hedge funds are taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets decreased by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that mpaa isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are a large number of signals market participants put to use to grade stocks. A pair of the less utilized signals are hedge fund and insider trading signals. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see the details here). We're going to take a look at the new hedge fund action regarding Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -10% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 7 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MPAA a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions). According to Insider Monkey's hedge fund database,Private Capital Management, managed by Gregg J. Powers, holds the largest position in Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA). Private Capital Management has a $30.4 million position in the stock, comprising 4.6% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second isFine Capital Partners, led by Debra Fine, holding a $26.6 million position; 3.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions consist of Peter Schliemann'sRutabaga Capital Management, Richard S. Pzena'sPzena Investment Managementand Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider'sSG Capital Management. Due to the fact that Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA) has witnessed a decline in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. Intriguingly, J. Daniel Plants'sVoce Capitalsold off the biggest investment of the "upper crust" of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising about $3.1 million in stock. Bernard Horn's fund,Polaris Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $1.8 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds last quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA) but similarly valued. These stocks are NI Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NODK), Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI), Jumei International Holding Ltd (NYSE:JMEI), and Dorian LPG Ltd (NYSE:LPG). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to MPAA's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NODK,6,24094,-1 KPTI,15,103954,-2 JMEI,3,10350,0 LPG,9,71357,2 Average,8.25,52439,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $52 million. That figure was $94 million in MPAA's case. Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Jumei International Holding Ltd (NYSE:JMEI) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately MPAA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on MPAA were disappointed as the stock returned -12.5% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About PCSB Financial Corporation (PCSB) Our extensive research has shown that imitating the smart money can generate significant returns for retail investors, which is why we track nearly 750 active prominent money managers and analyze their quarterly 13F filings. The stocks that are heavily bought by hedge funds historically outperformed the market, though there is no shortage of high profile failures like hedge funds' 2018 losses in Facebook and Apple. Let’s take a closer look at what the funds we track think about PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB) in this article. PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. At the end of this article we will also compare PCSB to other stocks including Unity Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBX), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN), and Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) to get a better sense of its popularity. At the moment there are several gauges investors have at their disposal to size up stocks. Two of the most under-the-radar gauges are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant margin (see the details here). Let's check out the new hedge fund action regarding PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards PCSB over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Paul Magidson, Jonathan Cohen. And Ostrom Enders'sCastine Capital Managementhas the biggest position in PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB), worth close to $9.1 million, corresponding to 2.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chuck Royce ofRoyce & Associates, with a $4.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologies, John D. Gillespie'sProspector Partnersand Emanuel J. Friedman'sEJF Capital. We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position:MFP Investors. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn't always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don't think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund wasMillennium Management). Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB). We will take a look at Unity Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:UBX), Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN), Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA), and Tuscan Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:THCB). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to PCSB's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position UBX,4,9494,2 TITN,12,18228,-3 ARTNA,3,17145,-2 THCB,8,35955,8 Average,6.75,20206,1.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 6.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $20 million. That figure was $26 million in PCSB's case. Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ:TITN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. PCSB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PCSB) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately PCSB wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on PCSB were disappointed as the stock returned -1.2% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Kornit Digital Ltd. (KRNT) A Good Stock To Buy? Hedge funds are known to underperform the bull markets but that's not because they are bad at investing. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. Hedge funds underperform because they are hedged. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 12.1% in the first 5 months of this year through May 30th (including dividend payments). Conversely, hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the same 5-month period. An average long/short hedge fund returned only a fraction of this due to the hedges they implement and the large fees they charge. Our research covering the last 18 years indicates that investors can outperform the market by imitating hedge funds' stock picks rather than directly investing in hedge funds. That's why we believe it isn't a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT). Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT)has experienced a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Our calculations also showed that KRNT isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a glance at the key hedge fund action surrounding Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -29% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 4 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in KRNT a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Royce & Associatesheld the most valuable stake in Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT), which was worth $12.5 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Rima Senvest Management which amassed $9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Driehaus Capital, G2 Investment Partners Management, and D E Shaw were also bullish on Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Because Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there was a specific group of funds who were dropping their entire stakes heading into Q3. Intriguingly, Benjamin A. Smith'sLaurion Capital Managementdropped the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $5 million in stock, and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace's Marshall Wace LLP was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds heading into Q3. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT). These stocks are Boot Barn Holdings Inc (NYSE:BOOT), Washington Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:WASH), OneSpaWorld Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:OSW), and Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF). This group of stocks' market values are similar to KRNT's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BOOT,23,154459,4 WASH,4,25232,-2 OSW,11,80456,-4 CPF,16,76950,2 Average,13.5,84274,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $84 million. That figure was $43 million in KRNT's case. Boot Barn Holdings Inc (NYSE:BOOT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Washington Trust Bancorp (NASDAQ:WASH) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Kornit Digital Ltd. (NASDAQ:KRNT) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on KRNT as the stock returned 19.2% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About AC Immune SA (ACIU) After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from nearly 750 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms' equity portfolios as of March 31. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU). AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU)has experienced an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers recently.ACIUwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with ACIU holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that aciu isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's take a look at the new hedge fund action encompassing AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 4 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in ACIU a year ago. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) was held byBiotechnology Value Fund / BVF Inc, which reported holding $37.7 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Duquesne Capital with a $6.7 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Prosight Capital, Renaissance Technologies, and Millennium Management. As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness.Prosight Capital, managed by Lawrence Hawkins, established the most valuable position in AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU). Prosight Capital had $3.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementalso initiated a $0.9 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ACIU investors: Michael S. Weiss and Lindsay A. Rosenwald'sOpus Point Partners Managementand Jeffrey Talpins'sElement Capital Management. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT), Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE), Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ:FARM), and Summit Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMMF). This group of stocks' market values resemble ACIU's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position HOFT,11,67078,2 EGLE,10,205207,0 FARM,7,56386,-2 SMMF,2,9075,0 Average,7.5,84437,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $84 million. That figure was $51 million in ACIU's case. Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Summit Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMMF) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on ACIU as the stock returned 14.7% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
How Europe's smallest nations are battling Russia's cyberattacks Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Getty Images, AP TALLINN Earlier this year, the country of Berylia came under a coordinated cyberattack. For two days, hackers targeted the island nations power grid and public-safety infrastructure, while cyber experts from across Europe worked to counter the attacks. Of course, the island nation of Berylia is imaginary, but the threat is not, and the exercise, known as Locked Shields, involved real network infrastructure provided by companies like Siemens and water-treatment systems from South Korea. Major Gabor Visky, a Hungarian researcher working for the NATO Center in Tallinn, Estonia, where the exercise took place, told Yahoo News during a tour last month that the simulation aims to get as close as possible to real life. Its not surprising that a NATO cyber defense exercise would take place in Estonia, which has long been at the forefront of the digital revolution. The country took many services online years ago, including the 2002 introduction of its now famous digital ID card for accessing government services. Hannes Krause, the head of policy and analysis for Estonias Information System Authority, the countrys cyber agency, says the Baltic nation is succeeding in defending its online network of government services, which ranges from internet voting to ordering prescription drugs, in part because officials have worked to replace outdated technology and software and to educate the public. We were untouched by the WannaCry and NotPetya campaigns, says Krause, referring to devastating cyberattacks that spread around the world in 2017. The damage caused by the malware cost companies like FedEx and hospitals throughout the U.K. millions of dollars. But in Estonia, the virus didnt spread. Then we realized we had probably been doing something right, Krause continued. It left us literally untouched, he continued, particularly in comparison to the global devastation elsewhere. (A few Home Depot-style stores were hit by the malware, but that was because their servers in France were infected.) Story continues Today, even as larger and more advanced countries struggle with cyberattacks, whether politically motivated hacks or finance-related crimes, Estonia has become one of the most digitally connected and secure societies in the world. And as the United States approaches the 2020 presidential election mired in debates over how best to secure its voting process against the type of attack Russia carried out in 2016, some of the smallest European countries have modernized at a fast pace. Though Russias cyber operations got a major boost of publicity during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Moscows use of hackers to extend its influence abroad dates back to the late 1990s, when NATO began airstrikes in Yugoslavia. Moscow had opposed the move, and Russian hackers tunneled into digital systems belonging to governments and militaries in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Brazil and Germany. The FBI dubbed the theft Moonlight Maze, one of the earliest digital campaigns of that scale. However, it wasnt until 2007 that Russia mounted its first full-scale digital attack on a country. That was the year the Estonian government decided to move a Soviet-era statue from the heart of its capital in Tallinn to a military cemetery. Russian-speaking citizens in Estonia took to the streets in protest. Those tensions exploded over fake stories in Russian media about the destruction of the statues, and next a crippling denial-of-service attack that flooded Estonian servers from the Parliament to local businesses with digital traffic. Estonia briefly went offline. The history of cyberwarfare will always begin with Estonia, said former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in an interview with Yahoo News in May. The 2007 attacks were a taste of the future of cyberwarfare, said Ilves, who was president of Estonia from 2006 to 2016 and now works at Stanford University. While the U.S. and the U.K. sent scouts to observe the Estonian system after the attack, many in the intelligence and national security community failed to take the threat seriously. Ive always felt so bad for Estonia, said one former CIA official who did analysis on Europe. The former official recalled Estonian officials pleading in D.C. meetings for U.S. attention. Theyve always been like, Hey, but also Russia. Dont forget us. Cybersecurity is an actual thing we need to worry about, and Russia is fighting us on a daily basis. Estonia also learned from those attacks, however, and in 2008 Estonian officials even helped Georgia when it was hit by a similar Russian attack by offering mirror sites it had created for important online resources such as government agencies and public services. That same year, Estonia established an academic center dedicated to cybersecurity, the NATO-accredited Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence. (Estonia first proposed the idea in 2004, but there was no fertile soil, or political support, to develop it at the time, according to Siim Alatalu, a strategy researcher at the center.) Today the center has 18 sponsoring nations and three additional participants, and annually hosts Locked Shields, the largest cyber exercise in the world. Estonia also has a voluntary cyberdefense force and partners closely with the U.S. state of Maryland, where a large amount of digital security knowledge is concentrated, thanks to institutions like the National Security Agency. Following Russias annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Kremlin-directed hackers turned their attention to Ukraine, which became a testing ground for an array of Russian attacks. In 2015, less than 10 years after the NATO center was established in Estonia, parts of Ukraines power grid temporarily went down thanks to a digital attack later linked to the Russian hacking group Sandworm. This renewed wave of Russian operations prompted more countries in Europe to build up their cyber forces. Sweden, which is not a NATO member and remains staunchly neutral, recently reinstated conscription and is currently recruiting its first class to educate cyber soldiers. It could take years to find the right people with the right skills, said Charlotta Ridderstråle, one of the people designing and recruiting for the program. Like many countries, we see more and more activities in our systems, she told me in Stockholm. In Sweden were quite digital, making protection important, she said. We dont have too many chances to do it right. The Netherlands, in fact, has been active for a while in tracking and countering Russian attacks. In 2014 , the Dutch intelligence agency known as AIVD penetrated the Russian hacking group responsible for the hack of the Democratic National Committee and other operations, Cozy Bear. That allowed it to tip off the Americans before the 2016 election. More recently, the Dutch have been focusing on trying to go public with some of these operations. In October 2018, the Dutch Ministry of Defense released a detailed report on Russian military intelligence officers attempt to spy on the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. The organization had been investigating the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal. The Dutch, working with the U.S., were able to get other countries such as Germany and France to agree to a mutual release of information on the attempted hack, according to Chris Painter, the former top cyber diplomat under Presidents Trump and Obama. They are being targeted, their institutions are being targeted, he continued. The Dutch have a very strong reputation in the human rights community and have also established a strong reputation and leadership on cyber issues, and they can bring other countries in as well. Estonia was also faced with a recent challenge. In 2017, an academic group discovered that certain Estonian ID cards could potentially be breached based on a security flaw. But it would have taken hours and buckets of money to break into one individual card, said Estonian Defense Minister Jüri Luik. The government quickly issued new cards, routinely updating the populace on the progress, and no breaches were detected. Multiple Estonian officials told Yahoo News the cards security flaw, which the company initially did not disclose to the Estonian government, was a good example of how a bureaucracy can efficiently handle inevitable digital security concerns. Alexander Klimburg, the director of the Hague-based Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, told Yahoo that Europe is also leading in setting the norms of behavior for how governments operate in cyberspace. That includes the Tallinn Manual in Estonia, which was published after the 2007 cyberattacks to interpret how existing law applies to cyberspace, new data collection laws in Sweden and Holland, and the new European privacy law, GDPR. Klimburg, also a program director at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies, says that even as Europe steps up, Washington has been less engaged in discussing cybersecurity. The Trump administration doesnt currently have a top cyber diplomat, a position that was last filled in the summer of 2017, or a White House official in charge of cyber issues. However, the U.S. in 2018 declared it would offer assistance in offensive and defensive cyber operations to NATO allies, if asked. Klimburg, the author of Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace, was also critical of the Pentagon, which declared its intention in a strategic vision document for U.S. Cyber Command in June 2018 to ramp up its engagement in cyberspace. It followed through, allegedly shutting down internet connections in Moscow on the day of the U.S. midterm elections, and recently in Iran, striking command-and-control technology for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to commercial ship bombings. That kind of escalation blurs the lines between peace and wartime, argued Klimburg. For Klimburg and other cyber experts in Europe, the real way to respond to the Russian meddling in the 2016 election is for countries to ensure their own institutions are well protected. It is always about resilience, he said. Other European countries, like Finland, appear to be following suit. In 2015, Finland established the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which trains governments around the world to get officials in the military, intelligence communities and other areas to work together, according to Päivi Tampere, a spokeswoman for the center. We need to look inward at our own societies, she said, instead of simply blaming bad actors like Russia. For Estonia, a key test of that resilience was its recent European Union parliamentary elections, which were conducted in part online. Since Estonia introduced the option of voting online in 2005, digital security experts have heavily criticized the decision, pointing to inherent vulnerabilities with voters computers and devices as well as difficulties ensuring voter privacy and tally accuracy. Estonian officials acknowledge the vulnerabilities but continuously work to improve the system. They believe the digital ID card, which uses two-factor authentication and anonymizing software, eliminates a large number of basic digital attacks and affords people the convenient option of voting remotely, increasing democratic participation. They dont need to be the fastest gazelles on the plain they just need to beat the slowest ones, they argue. And the intelligence services are confident in their ability to detect attempts at meddling. Plus, the Estonian people have confidence in online voting. The option may not be directly applicable to the United States, where voting is decentralized and there is little confidence in voting technology, but the general principles of establishing trust over time and putting security first may be valuable lessons. Almost every high-ranking Estonian official interviewed by Yahoo News, including former President Ilves, said they had voted online for the parliamentary elections in May. In the case of this years election in Estonia, high levels of confidence were noted in internet voting and in the technical abilities of the authorities to ensure their smooth operation, said Katya Andrusz, a spokesperson for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, an independent international body that oversees elections and has given Estonia both praise and criticism over the years for its digital voting option. For Ilves, the former Estonian president, the countrys success also highlights how far the United States has to go. If you want to know how bad it is elsewhere, in the United States, in the U.S. Congress the staffers are issued ID cards that have a chip decal on them, not an actual chip, he said. He had visited Congress weeks before. A Senate aide confirmed the ID cards still have fake chips, while the sergeant-at-arms responsible for congressional security, including the ID cards, did not respond to a request for comment. Do you wonder why the U.S. Congress has been repeatedly hacked? Research for this article was made possible with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Former top U.S. diplomat deplores policy toward Iran 'untethered to any coherent strategy' Pentagon secretly struck back against Iranian cyberspies targeting U.S. ships Trump admits his Cabinet had 'some clinkers' For Dems, there's no chickening out at Clyburn's fish fry Chore wars: Are men doing enough housework? PHOTOS: Moon rock samples sealed since Apollo missions
Here’s What Hedge Funds Think About Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (OPY) While the market driven by short-term sentiment influenced by the accomodative interest rate environment in the US, increasing oil prices and optimism towards the resolution of the trade war with China, many smart money investors kept their cautious approach regarding the current bull run in the first quarter and hedging or reducing many of their long positions. However, as we know, big investors usually buy stocks with strong fundamentals, which is why we believe we can profit from imitating them. In this article, we are going to take a look at the smart money sentiment surrounding Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY). IsOppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY)a buy, sell, or hold? Investors who are in the know are buying. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that opy isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the eyes of most stock holders, hedge funds are assumed to be worthless, old investment tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, Our experts hone in on the masters of this club, around 750 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people direct bulk of all hedge funds' total capital, and by tailing their first-class picks, Insider Monkey has revealed a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). [caption id="attachment_745225" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Noam Gottesman, GLG Partners[/caption] We're going to take a glance at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in OPY over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY), with a stake worth $11.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was AQR Capital Management, which amassed a stake valued at $8 million. GLG Partners, Arrowstreet Capital, and D E Shaw were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY) headfirst.Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, initiated the most valuable position in Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY). Millennium Management had $0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementalso made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY). We will take a look at Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC), Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS), Kadmon Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KDMN), and Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble OPY's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position EBTC,1,1296,-2 MRUS,6,109071,0 KDMN,15,150710,5 PFIS,1,2374,0 Average,5.75,65863,0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $66 million. That figure was $35 million in OPY's case. Kadmon Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KDMN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE:OPY) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately OPY wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on OPY were disappointed as the stock returned 3% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Daseke, Inc. (DSKE) A Good Stock To Buy? Reputable billionaire investors such as Jim Simons, Cliff Asness and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won't accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point. Hedge fund interest inDaseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE)shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. At the end of this article we will also compare DSKE to other stocks including Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL), Tilly's Inc (NYSE:TLYS), and Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) to get a better sense of its popularity. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to take a peek at the fresh hedge fund action regarding Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in DSKE over the last 15 quarters. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE) was held byColiseum Capital, which reported holding $4.1 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $1.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Prescott Group Capital Management, Arrowstreet Capital, and Millennium Management. Seeing as Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it's easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partnerssold off the largest stake of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, worth about $3.3 million in stock, and John Overdeck and David Siegel's Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE). We will take a look at Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL), Tilly's Inc (NYSE:TLYS), Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA), and Allied Motion Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMOT). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to DSKE's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position POWL,9,21074,1 TLYS,16,64259,1 CIA,2,1384,0 AMOT,12,32307,0 Average,9.75,29756,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $30 million. That figure was $10 million in DSKE's case. Tilly's Inc (NYSE:TLYS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSKE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately DSKE wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); DSKE investors were disappointed as the stock returned -23.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Powell Industries, Inc. (POWL) ? Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors' consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL). Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. POWL investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with POWL positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that powl isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's take a look at the latest hedge fund action regarding Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards POWL over the last 15 quarters. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL), with a stake worth $10.9 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Prospector Partners, which amassed a stake valued at $3.3 million. Royce & Associates, Millennium Management, and Ancora Advisors were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.Springbok Capital, managed by Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle, established the largest position in Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL). Springbok Capital had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL). We will take a look at Tilly's Inc (NYSE:TLYS), Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA), Allied Motion Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMOT), and Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST). All of these stocks' market caps are closest to POWL's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position TLYS,16,64259,1 CIA,2,1384,0 AMOT,12,32307,0 BFST,1,16956,0 Average,7.75,28727,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $29 million. That figure was $21 million in POWL's case. Tilly's Inc (NYSE:TLYS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Powell Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on POWL as the stock returned 38.5% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Trump administration agrees to delay health care rule SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The Trump administration has agreed to postpone implementing a rule allowing medical workers to decline performing abortions or other treatments on moral or religious grounds while the so-called "conscience" rule is challenged in a California court. The rule was supposed to take effect on July 22 but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its opponents in a California lawsuit mutually agreed Friday to delay a final ruling on the matter until Nov. 22. The agency called it the "most efficient way to adjudicate" the rule. A federal judge in San Francisco permitted the change on Saturday. A California lawsuit alleges that the department exceeded its authority with the rule, which President Trump announced in May. The measure known as Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority would require institutions that receive money from federal programs to certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights. Most laws pertain to medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide. The department has previously said that past administrations haven't done enough to protect such rights in the medical field. The rule is a priority for religious conservatives, but critics fear it will become a pretext for denying medical attention to LGBT people or women seeking abortions, a legal medical procedure. "The Trump administration is trying to systematically limit access to critical medical care for women, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable patients," San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement announcing Friday's decision. "Hospitals are no place to put personal beliefs above patient care." San Francisco would have faced losing about $1 billion in federal funding for health care-related programs if the rule took effect, according to the statement from his office. View comments
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On UFP Technologies, Inc. (UFPT) Is UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT) a good bet right now? We like to analyze hedge fund sentiment before doing days of in-depth research. We do so because hedge funds and other elite investors have numerous Ivy League graduates, expert network advisers, and supply chain tipsters working or consulting for them. There is not a shortage of news stories covering failed hedge fund investments and it is a fact that hedge funds' picks don't beat the market 100% of the time, but their consensus picks have historically done very well and have outperformed the market after adjusting for risk. UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT)shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers in recent months. Our calculations also showed that UFPT isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Today there are tons of gauges market participants use to appraise their holdings. A pair of the best gauges are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a very impressive amount (see the details here). We're going to check out the latest hedge fund action regarding UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 7 hedge funds with a bullish position in UFPT a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Cove Street Capitalheld the most valuable stake in UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT), which was worth $26.9 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Renaissance Technologies which amassed $19.9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Ancora Advisors, Royce & Associates, and Huber Capital Management were also bullish on UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves.Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the biggest position in UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT). Millennium Management had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT) but similarly valued. These stocks are Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P (NASDAQ:CLMT), Telenav Inc (NASDAQ:TNAV), Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:AOSL), and Digital Turbine Inc (NASDAQ:APPS). All of these stocks' market caps resemble UFPT's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CLMT,4,10140,-1 TNAV,10,75691,1 AOSL,11,42571,0 APPS,15,17435,5 Average,10,36459,1.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $36 million. That figure was $69 million in UFPT's case. Digital Turbine Inc (NASDAQ:APPS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P (NASDAQ:CLMT) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. UFP Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPT) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on UFPT as the stock returned 6.9% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Are Dividend Investors Making A Mistake With Helloworld Travel Limited (ASX:HLO)? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Dividend paying stocks like Helloworld Travel Limited (ASX:HLO) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason - some research suggests a significant amount of all stock market returns come from reinvested dividends. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter. With a eight-year payment history and a 3.6% yield, many investors probably find Helloworld Travel intriguing. We'd agree the yield does look enticing. Some simple research can reduce the risk of buying Helloworld Travel for its dividend - read on to learn more. Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Helloworld Travel! Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. As a result, we should always investigate whether a company can afford its dividend, measured as a percentage of a company's net income after tax. In the last year, Helloworld Travel paid out 69% of its profit as dividends. This is a fairly normal payout ratio among most businesses. It allows a higher dividend to be paid to shareholders, but does limit the capital retained in the business - which could be good or bad. Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. Unfortunately, while Helloworld Travel pays a dividend, it also reported negative free cash flow last year. While there may be a good reason for this, it's not ideal from a dividend perspective. We update our data on Helloworld Travel every 24 hours, so you can always getour latest analysis of its financial health, here. From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. The first recorded dividend for Helloworld Travel, in the last decade, was eight years ago. It's good to see that Helloworld Travel has been paying a dividend for a number of years. However, the dividend has been cut at least once in the past, and we're concerned that what has been cut once, could be cut again. During the past eight-year period, the first annual payment was AU$0.12 in 2011, compared to AU$0.18 last year. Dividends per share have grown at approximately 5.2% per year over this time. The dividends haven't grown at precisely 5.2% every year, but this is a useful way to average out the historical rate of growth. It's good to see the dividend growing at a decent rate, but the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. Helloworld Travel might have put its house in order since then, but we remain cautious. Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Earnings have grown at around 4.6% a year for the past five years, which is better than seeing them shrink! 4.6% per annum is not a particularly high rate of growth, which we find curious. If the company is struggling to grow, perhaps that's why it elects to pay out more than half of its earnings to shareholders. To summarise, shareholders should always check that Helloworld Travel's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. First, the company has a payout ratio that was within an average range for most dividend stocks, but it paid out virtually all of its generated cash flow. Unfortunately, earnings growth has also been mediocre, and the company has cut its dividend at least once in the past. With this information in mind, we think Helloworld Travel may not be an ideal dividend stock. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 5 analysts we track are forecasting for Helloworld Travelfor freewith publicanalyst estimates for the company. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try ourcurated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Zoë Kravitz Is Married! All About How She Came Into Her Own in Hollywood and Found Love Zoë Kravitz is now married ! The Big Little Lies star, 30, tied the knot with Karl Glusman on Saturday at her father Lenny Kravitzs home in France after dating for three years. While Kravitz is embarking on a new chapter of her life, the actress, 30, has been open in the past about facing adversity and overcoming it. In November 2018, Kravitz opened up about her struggles growing up in a predominantly white community calling it a rough time for someone trying to discover who they are. I went to a private school in Miami, surrounded by wealthy kids, mostly white, she told Elle . I felt like a freak because my hair was different, and little kids would come up and say, Can I feel your hair? Kravitz continued, The things that made me different were the things I didnt like about myself; I wanted to straighten my hair, remind people that I was half white. Zoë Kravitz Growing up with famous parents Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet wasnt easy either. I went through a really awkward phase, she said. I was short and brown, surrounded by tall girls with boobs and blonde hair. And my dad was dating supermodels, so I was waking up to Adriana Lima. She continued, I didnt have beauty as a crutch, and Im thankful for that because I had to develop my personality. Kravitz inevitably shaped her own path, as well, leaving her parents shadows to forge a career as an actress in her own right. RELATED: Zoë Kravitz Reveals Shes Been Engaged to Karl Glusman Since February: I Was in Sweatpants She made her acting debut in 2007s No Reservations and hasnt looked back since, starring in films such as X-Men: First Class, The Divergent series, Mad Max: Fury Road and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them . Kravitz also stars on HBOs hit show Big Little Lies opposite her Divergent costar Shailene Woodley, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, all of whom were invited to Kravitzs wedding. While the actress has led a prolific acting career, shes kept her personal life relatively low-key and that includes her relationship with Glusman. Story continues Zoë Kravitz and Karl Glusman \| Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images Kravitz confirmed they were engaged to Elle in November saying, I havent told anyone yet I mean, I havent told the world. I wanted to keep it private. Glusman, an actor, had intended to propose in Paris but moved the moment to the couples living room when work schedules scrambled his plans, according to the magazine. I was in sweatpants, Kravitz said. I think I was a little drunk. Kravitz preferred the relaxed way that Glusman asked her to marry him. He nailed it, she praised. And I love that it wasnt this elaborate plan in Paris. It was at home, in sweatpants.
Motel 6 hotel chain to settle lawsuit over sharing guest lists with ICE By Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - Motel 6 has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over claims the budget chain routinely provided guest lists from properties in Arizona to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, court documents showed on Saturday. The proposed settlement, outlined in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, calls for Motel 6 to abide by a three-year consent decree to not give guest information to immigration authorities without a warrant or subpoena and to provide training on the issue to workers. A previous settlement over the Arizona properties reached by the two sides was rejected in November 2018 by a federal judge who said it did not go far enough in making sure that the plaintiffs, many of whom may be in the country illegally, would be found and compensated. "Motel 6 fully recognizes the seriousness of the situation and accepts full responsibility for both compensating those who were harmed and taking the necessary steps to ensure that we protect the privacy of our guests. Since this issue emerged, we’ve taken strong action to make sure a similar issue never happens again in the future," a spokesman for the company said in a written statement. Immigration has become an incendiary issue in U.S. politics amid a surge of immigrants seeking to enter illegally and moves by President Donald Trump to step up deportations and build a wall along the southern border with Mexico. Local governments dubbing themselves "sanctuary cities” have resisted cooperating with the Trump administration’s crackdown, and immigration is certain to play a major role in the 2020 presidential campaign. The lawsuit was filed in January 2018 by the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, on behalf of Motel 6 guests with Latino names after the Phoenix New Times newspaper reported that the chain was providing their names to ICE at two of its properties in Arizona and six in Washington state. The new settlement seeks to clarify how the plaintiffs would be found and paid and sets up a fund for that purpose. A spokesman for MALDEF could not be reached for comment on Saturday. In April of this year, Motel 6 agreed to pay $12 million to settle a similar lawsuit filed by Washington state. Motel 6 is controlled by the private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, which bought the brand in 2012. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Robert Birsel)
Is Primoris Services Corp (PRIM) A Good Stock To Buy ? Hedge Funds and other institutional investors have just completed filing their 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their equity portfolios as of the end of March. At Insider Monkey, we follow nearly 750 active hedge funds and notable investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter. IsPrimoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM)an exceptional stock to buy now? The best stock pickers are getting more bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund bets moved up by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that PRIM isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. If you'd ask most market participants, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, We hone in on the upper echelon of this club, around 750 funds. These money managers direct the lion's share of all hedge funds' total asset base, and by following their top stock picks, Insider Monkey has revealed a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). Let's analyze the latest hedge fund action encompassing Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards PRIM over the last 15 quarters. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Millennium Managementheld the most valuable stake in Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM), which was worth $7.1 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Divisar Capital which amassed $5.6 million worth of shares. Moreover, Citadel Investment Group, Renaissance Technologies, and Two Sigma Advisors were also bullish on Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were breaking ground themselves.Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, initiated the most valuable position in Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM). Marshall Wace LLP had $0.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Minhua Zhang'sWeld Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new PRIM position is Mike Vranos'sEllington. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM). These stocks are Apollo Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:AINV), Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK), Endurance International Group Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:EIGI), and Lindsay Corporation (NYSE:LNN). This group of stocks' market values are similar to PRIM's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AINV,9,26169,-6 GPRK,13,88491,0 EIGI,11,125661,-7 LNN,7,212046,-4 Average,10,113092,-4.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $113 million. That figure was $29 million in PRIM's case. Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Lindsay Corporation (NYSE:LNN) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Primoris Services Corp (NASDAQ:PRIM) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately PRIM wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); PRIM investors were disappointed as the stock returned -5.3% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (KNSA) A Good Stock To Buy ? Concerns over rising interest rates and expected further rate increases have hit several stocks hard during the fourth quarter. Trends reversed 180 degrees during the first quarter amid Powell's pivot and optimistic expectations towards a trade deal with China. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were increasing their overall exposure in the first quarter and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA). Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA)has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Our calculations also showed that KNSA isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards KNSA over the last 15 quarters. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA) was held byBaker Bros. Advisors, which reported holding $54.2 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Deerfield Management with a $23.7 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Vivo Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, and Alyeska Investment Group. As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA) headfirst.Alyeska Investment Group, managed by Anand Parekh, assembled the most valuable position in Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA). Alyeska Investment Group had $2.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Sander Gerber'sHudson Bay Capital Managementalso made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new KNSA position is Ori Hershkovitz'sNexthera Capital. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA). We will take a look at InflaRx N.V. (NASDAQ:IFRX), Third Point Reinsurance Ltd (NYSE:TPRE), FB Financial Corporation (NYSE:FBK), and Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to KNSA's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position IFRX,15,411437,2 TPRE,19,76399,1 FBK,5,100875,-3 KAI,17,93212,0 Average,14,170481,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $170 million. That figure was $108 million in KNSA's case. Third Point Reinsurance Ltd (NYSE:TPRE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand FB Financial Corporation (NYSE:FBK) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately KNSA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); KNSA investors were disappointed as the stock returned -23.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMPH) A Good Stock To Buy ? Investing in small cap stocks has historically been a way to outperform the market, as small cap companies typically grow faster on average than the blue chips. That outperformance comes with a price, however, as there are occasional periods of higher volatility. The last 8 months is one of those periods, as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 9 percentage points. Given that the funds we track tend to have a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks, they have seen some volatility in their portfolios too. Actually their moves are potentially one of the factors that contributed to this volatility. In this article, we use our extensive database of hedge fund holdings to find out what the smart money thinks of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH). Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH)has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest lately.AMPHwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with AMPH holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that AMPH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Today there are a lot of formulas investors use to evaluate stocks. A couple of the less known formulas are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a superb amount (see the details here). We're going to check out the latest hedge fund action encompassing Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 25% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards AMPH over the last 15 quarters. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Renaissance Technologiesheld the most valuable stake in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH), which was worth $9 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Arrowstreet Capital which amassed $3.1 million worth of shares. Moreover, Two Sigma Advisors, AQR Capital Management, and Millennium Management were also bullish on Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, created the most outsized position in Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH). Arrowstreet Capital had $3.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Benjamin A. Smith'sLaurion Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementand Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH) but similarly valued. We will take a look at National Western Life Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWLI), PJT Partners Inc (NYSE:PJT), Triumph Group Inc (NYSE:TGI), and Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc. (NYSE:GPMT). This group of stocks' market caps resemble AMPH's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NWLI,9,15680,0 PJT,19,160622,1 TGI,12,44604,4 GPMT,12,43820,6 Average,13,66182,2.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $66 million. That figure was $15 million in AMPH's case. PJT Partners Inc (NYSE:PJT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand National Western Life Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NWLI) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately AMPH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); AMPH investors were disappointed as the stock returned 1.9% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Baytex Energy Corp (BTE) A Good Stock To Buy? Is Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) a good place to invest some of your money right now? We can gain invaluable insight to help us answer that question by studying the investment trends of top investors, who employ world-class Ivy League graduates, who are given immense resources and industry contacts to put their financial expertise to work. The top picks of these firms have historically outperformed the market when we account for known risk factors, making them very valuable investment ideas. Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. BTE investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with BTE holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that BTE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. To the average investor there are several formulas investors put to use to analyze their stock investments. Two of the most underrated formulas are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outpace the market by a significant amount (see the details here). We're going to take a peek at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -17% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 11 hedge funds with a bullish position in BTE a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey,Luminus Management, managed by Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal, holds the number one position in Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE). Luminus Management has a $35 million position in the stock, comprising 0.8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second isRoyce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, which holds a $2.3 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other professional money managers that hold long positions comprise Peter Muller'sPDT Partners, John Thiessen'sVertex One Asset Managementand John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisors. Seeing as Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, it's safe to say that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes last quarter. Intriguingly, Brad Dunkley and Blair Levinsky'sWaratah Capital Advisorssold off the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $4.1 million in stock, and Michael Platt and William Reeves's BlueCrest Capital Mgmt. was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds last quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Retrophin Inc (NASDAQ:RTRX), Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALDR), Republic Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCAA), and Roan Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ROAN). All of these stocks' market caps resemble BTE's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position RTRX,23,363876,1 ALDR,15,325409,0 RBCAA,7,16406,0 ROAN,18,310071,4 Average,15.75,253941,1.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 15.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $254 million. That figure was $42 million in BTE's case. Retrophin Inc (NASDAQ:RTRX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Republic Bancorp, Inc. KY (NASDAQ:RBCAA) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately BTE wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); BTE investors were disappointed as the stock returned -9.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been More Bullish On The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (CHEF) Legendary investors such as Jeffrey Talpins and Seth Klarman earn enormous amounts of money for themselves and their investors by doing in-depth research on small-cap stocks that big brokerage houses don't publish. Small cap stocks -especially when they are screened well- can generate substantial outperformance versus a boring index fund. That's why we analyze the activity of those elite funds in these small-cap stocks. In the following paragraphs, we analyze The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) from the perspective of those elite funds. Hedge fund interest inThe Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF)shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Standex Int'l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), ShockWave Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWAV), and Quotient Technology Inc (NYSE:QUOT) to gather more data points. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's view the fresh hedge fund action surrounding The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CHEF over the last 15 quarters. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an "upper tier" of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) was held byRenaissance Technologies, which reported holding $35.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Driehaus Capital with a $7.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included PDT Partners, Marshall Wace LLP, and AQR Capital Management. Because The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's safe to say that there was a specific group of money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Principal Global Investors'sColumbus Circle Investorscut the biggest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1.2 million in stock. John Overdeck and David Siegel's fund,Two Sigma Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF). These stocks are Standex Int'l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), ShockWave Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWAV), Quotient Technology Inc (NYSE:QUOT), and Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to CHEF's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position SXI,11,17893,3 SWAV,14,98199,14 QUOT,16,228016,4 RGR,17,110759,3 Average,14.5,113717,6 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $114 million. That figure was $47 million in CHEF's case. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE:RGR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Standex Int'l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks The Chefs Warehouse, Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) is even less popular than SXI. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on CHEF as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CHEF as the stock returned 9.2% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is AXT Inc (AXTI) A Good Stock To Buy ? Hedge fund managers like David Einhorn, Bill Ackman, or Carl Icahn became billionaires through reaping large profits for their investors, which is why piggybacking their stock picks may provide us with significant returns as well. Many hedge funds, like Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, are pretty secretive, but we can still get some insights by analyzing their quarterly 13F filings. One of the most fertile grounds for large abnormal returns is hedge funds’ most popular small-cap picks, which are not so widely followed and often trade at a discount to their intrinsic value. In this article we will check out hedge fund activity in another small-cap stock: AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI). IsAXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI)a first-rate investment now? The best stock pickers are taking a bullish view. The number of bullish hedge fund bets went up by 2 recently. Our calculations also showed that axti isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.AXTIwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with AXTI holdings at the end of the previous quarter. According to most traders, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, old financial tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, Our researchers hone in on the masters of this club, around 750 funds. These investment experts control the lion's share of the hedge fund industry's total asset base, and by keeping track of their finest equity investments, Insider Monkey has come up with a few investment strategies that have historically defeated Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). We're going to check out the recent hedge fund action surrounding AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 29% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 10 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in AXTI a year ago. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Royce & Associatesheld the most valuable stake in AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI), which was worth $10.6 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Raging Capital Management which amassed $3.2 million worth of shares. Moreover, Manatuck Hill Partners, Ancora Advisors, and Ariel Investments were also bullish on AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Now, specific money managers have jumped into AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) headfirst.Manatuck Hill Partners, managed by Mark Broach, initiated the most outsized position in AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI). Manatuck Hill Partners had $1.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Roger Ibbotson'sZebra Capital Managementalso made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI). We will take a look at Bank7 Corp. (NASDAQ:BSVN), Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRIF), Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY), and MVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:MVBF). All of these stocks' market caps match AXTI's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BSVN,3,10080,-4 GRIF,2,27649,0 RCKY,7,15641,1 MVBF,2,17615,0 Average,3.5,17746,-0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $18 million. That figure was $18 million in AXTI's case. Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRIF) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately AXTI wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on AXTI were disappointed as the stock returned -7.4% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Genfit SA (GNFT) Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds' and successful investors' positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund's trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT) based on that data. Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. GNFT investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 0 hedge funds in our database with GNFT positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GNFT isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. Let's check out the new hedge fund action regarding Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 10 from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 0 hedge funds with a bullish position in GNFT a year ago. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT) was held byOrbiMed Advisors, which reported holding $29.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Great Point Partners with a $29.5 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Cormorant Asset Management, Healthcor Management LP, and GLG Partners. Consequently, key money managers were leading the bulls' herd.OrbiMed Advisors, managed by Samuel Isaly, initiated the most outsized position in Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT). OrbiMed Advisors had $29.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Jay and David Kroin'sGreat Point Partnersalso made a $29.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new GNFT investors: Bihua Chen'sCormorant Asset Management, Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey'sHealthcor Management LP, and Noam Gottesman'sGLG Partners. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT). These stocks are InfraREIT, Inc. (REIT) (NYSE:HIFR), ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCSC), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), and Middlesex Water Company (NASDAQ:MSEX). This group of stocks' market values match GNFT's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position HIFR,14,190869,-1 SCSC,10,49992,-2 SPWR,9,36580,1 MSEX,9,48181,-2 Average,10.5,81406,-1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $81 million. That figure was $91 million in GNFT's case. InfraREIT Inc (NYSE:HIFR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Genfit SA (NASDAQ:GNFT) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately GNFT wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); GNFT investors were disappointed as the stock returned -14.8% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been More Bullish On Medley Capital Corp (MCC) Hedge funds are known to underperform the bull markets but that's not because they are bad at investing. Truth be told, most hedge fund managers and other smaller players within this industry are very smart and skilled investors. Of course, they may also make wrong bets in some instances, but no one knows what the future holds and how market participants will react to the bountiful news that floods in each day. Hedge funds underperform because they are hedged. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 12.1% in the first 5 months of this year through May 30th (including dividend payments). Conversely, hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the same 5-month period. An average long/short hedge fund returned only a fraction of this due to the hedges they implement and the large fees they charge. Our research covering the last 18 years indicates that investors can outperform the market by imitating hedge funds' stock picks rather than directly investing in hedge funds. That's why we believe it isn't a waste of time to check out hedge fund sentiment before you invest in a stock like Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC). Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren't the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds' perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That's why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Mackinac Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:MFNC), Energous Corporation (NASDAQ:WATT), and Marrone Bio Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:MBII) to gather more data points. Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. [caption id="attachment_758454" align="aligncenter" width="450"] James Dondero of Highland Capital Management[/caption] Let's take a gander at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards MCC over the last 15 quarters. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC) was held byFrontFour Capital Group, which reported holding $5.1 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Moab Capital Partners with a $4.9 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Fondren Management, Roumell Asset Management, and Highland Capital Management. We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position:BlueCrest Capital Mgmt.. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn't always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don't think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund wasHighland Capital Management). Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Mackinac Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:MFNC), Energous Corporation (NASDAQ:WATT), Marrone Bio Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:MBII), and Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to MCC's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MFNC,7,14523,2 WATT,4,3055,0 MBII,3,13836,1 SAR,2,953,1 Average,4,8092,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $8 million. That figure was $19 million in MCC's case. Mackinac Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:MFNC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately MCC wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on MCC were disappointed as the stock returned -21.9% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About TravelCenters of America LLC (TA) Based on the fact that hedge funds have collectively under-performed the market for several years, it would be easy to assume that their stock picks simply aren't very good. However, our research shows this not to be the case. In fact, when it comes to their very top picks collectively, they show a strong ability to pick winning stocks. This year hedge funds' top 20 stock picks easily bested the broader market, at 18.7% compared to 12.1%, despite there being a few duds in there like Berkshire Hathaway (even their collective wisdom isn't perfect). The results show that there is plenty of merit to imitating the collective wisdom of top investors. IsTravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA)the right investment to pursue these days? Hedge funds are betting on the stock. The number of bullish hedge fund bets went up by 2 lately. Our calculations also showed that ta isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.TAwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with TA positions at the end of the previous quarter. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. [caption id="attachment_747612" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Eric Singer of VIEX Capital[/caption] We're going to check out the key hedge fund action regarding TravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 29% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 10 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in TA a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologieshas the biggest position in TravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA), worth close to $7.7 million, corresponding to less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Wilmot B. Harkey and Daniel Mack ofNantahala Capital Management, with a $3 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish include Eric Singer'sVIEX Capital Advisors, John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorsand Youlia Miteva'sProxima Capital Management. Now, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness.VIEX Capital Advisors, managed by Eric Singer, established the largest position in TravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA). VIEX Capital Advisors had $1.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Youlia Miteva'sProxima Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group, and Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as TravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA) but similarly valued. These stocks are First Financial Northwest, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFNW), Bridgepoint Education Inc (NYSE:BPI), Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PIRS), and Goodrich Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:GDP). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to TA's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position FFNW,3,12697,0 BPI,15,50247,-3 PIRS,15,37943,-2 GDP,6,30805,0 Average,9.75,32923,-1.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $33 million. That figure was $15 million in TA's case. Bridgepoint Education Inc (NYSE:BPI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand First Financial Northwest, Inc.(NASDAQ:FFNW) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. TravelCenters of America LLC (NASDAQ:TA) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately TA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); TA investors were disappointed as the stock returned -12.2% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Airgain, Inc. (AIRG) Amid an overall bull market, many stocks that smart money investors were collectively bullish on surged during the first quarter. Among them, Facebook and Microsoft ranked among the top 3 picks and these stocks gained 40% and 25% respectively. Our research shows that most of the stocks that smart money likes historically generate strong risk-adjusted returns. That's why we weren't surprised when hedge funds’ top 20 large-cap stock picks generated a return of 18.7% during the first 5 months of 2019 and outperformed the broader market benchmark by 6.6 percentage points.This is why following the smart money sentiment is a useful tool at identifying the next stock to invest in. IsAirgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG)ready to rally soon? Hedge funds are in a bullish mood. The number of long hedge fund bets went up by 5 recently. Our calculations also showed that airg isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a glance at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 125% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 5 hedge funds with a bullish position in AIRG a year ago. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Royce & Associatesheld the most valuable stake in Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG), which was worth $2.3 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was G2 Investment Partners Management which amassed $1.8 million worth of shares. Moreover, Ardsley Partners, Trellus Management Company, and Renaissance Technologies were also bullish on Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Now, key money managers have been driving this bullishness.Ardsley Partners, managed by Philip Hempleman, created the largest position in Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG). Ardsley Partners had $0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologiesalso made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new AIRG investors: Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLP. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Enzo Biochem, Inc. (NYSE:ENZ), CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV), Recro Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:REPH), and Pointer Telocation Limited (NASDAQ:PNTR). All of these stocks' market caps resemble AIRG's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ENZ,6,23375,-1 CBFV,2,1615,0 REPH,11,34989,0 PNTR,4,6939,2 Average,5.75,16730,0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $17 million. That figure was $5 million in AIRG's case. Recro Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:REPH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Airgain, Inc. (NASDAQ:AIRG) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on AIRG as the stock returned 11.2% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC) At Insider Monkey we track the activity of some of the best-performing hedge funds like Appaloosa Management, Baupost, and Tiger Global because we determined that some of the stocks that they are collectively bullish on can help us generate returns above the broader indices. Out of thousands of stocks that hedge funds invest in, small-caps can provide the best returns over the long term due to the fact that these companies are less efficiently priced and are usually under the radars of mass-media, analysts and dumb money. This is why we follow the smart money moves in the small-cap space. IsUranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC)ready to rally soon? Investors who are in the know are becoming hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions improved by 3 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that UEC isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.UECwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with UEC holdings at the end of the previous quarter. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to view the new hedge fund action encompassing Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 50% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 5 hedge funds with a bullish position in UEC a year ago. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC) was held byFalcon Edge Capital, which reported holding $1.8 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Sprott Asset Management with a $1.6 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Empyrean Capital Partners, CQS Cayman LP, and Prescott Group Capital Management. As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves.Empyrean Capital Partners, managed by Michael A. Price and Amos Meron, assembled the largest position in Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC). Empyrean Capital Partners had $1.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementalso initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new UEC position is D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at CECO Environmental Corp. (NASDAQ:CECE), Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WNEB), Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN), and Era Group Inc (NYSE:ERA). This group of stocks' market values match UEC's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CECE,14,41483,3 WNEB,4,22374,-1 MRSN,16,76424,12 ERA,9,44209,2 Average,10.75,46123,4 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $46 million. That figure was $8 million in UEC's case. Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WNEB) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE:UEC) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately UEC wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); UEC investors were disappointed as the stock returned -7.1% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Correvio Pharma Corp. (CORV) Is Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV) a good equity to bet on right now? We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks among hedge fund investors have historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk attributes. It's not surprising given that hedge funds have access to better information and more resources to predict the winners in the stock market. Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV)has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently.CORVwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with CORV holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that corv isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In today’s marketplace there are a lot of methods investors use to value publicly traded companies. A couple of the best methods are hedge fund and insider trading activity. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see the details here). Let's take a gander at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 29% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in CORV over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Tamarack Capital Managementheld the most valuable stake in Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV), which was worth $7.6 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Clough Capital Partners which amassed $6.7 million worth of shares. Moreover, Rock Springs Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, and Royce & Associates were also bullish on Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Now, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves.Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, created the most valuable position in Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV). Millennium Management had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Philip Hempleman'sArdsley Partnersalso made a $0 million investment in the stock during the quarter. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV). We will take a look at Steel Connect, Inc. (NASDAQ:STCN), Matinas Biopharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MTNB), BioSig Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:BSGM), and China XD Plastics Company Limited (NASDAQ:CXDC). All of these stocks' market caps are similar to CORV's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position STCN,5,42130,0 MTNB,7,13682,5 BSGM,1,862,0 CXDC,1,1598,-1 Average,3.5,14568,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $15 million. That figure was $22 million in CORV's case. Matinas Biopharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MTNB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BioSig Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:BSGM) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Correvio Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ:CORV) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CORV wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on CORV were disappointed as the stock returned -22.8% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) A Good Stock To Buy? Out of thousands of stocks that are currently traded on the market, it is difficult to identify those that will really generate strong returns. Hedge funds and institutional investors spend millions of dollars on analysts with MBAs and PhDs, who are industry experts and well connected to other industry and media insiders on top of that. Individual investors can piggyback the hedge funds employing these talents and can benefit from their vast resources and knowledge in that way. We analyze quarterly 13F filings of nearly 750 hedge funds and, by looking at the smart money sentiment that surrounds a stock, we can determine whether it has the potential to beat the market over the long-term. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at what smart money thinks about Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO). Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO)shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds recently.GOROwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with GORO holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GORO isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the financial world there are numerous tools stock market investors employ to analyze publicly traded companies. A couple of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outperform the market by a solid margin (see the details here). We're going to take a glance at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 29% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in GORO over the last 15 quarters. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO), with a stake worth $8.6 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $1.5 million. Marshall Wace LLP, Winton Capital Management, and Sprott Asset Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have been driving this bullishness.Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, initiated the most outsized position in Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO). Marshall Wace LLP had $1.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding'sWinton Capital Managementalso made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO). These stocks are Cytosorbents Corp (NASDAQ:CTSO), Kodiak Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:KOD), Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGI), and J. Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL). This group of stocks' market values match GORO's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CTSO,7,7323,-2 KOD,5,86678,0 CVGI,14,44236,3 JILL,11,18712,1 Average,9.25,39237,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $39 million. That figure was $14 million in GORO's case. Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kodiak Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:KOD) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE:GORO) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately GORO wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); GORO investors were disappointed as the stock returned -21.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Avid Bioservices, Inc. (CDMO) A Good Stock To Buy ? Is Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) a good stock to buy right now? We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before doing days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more incentives and resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also have numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments. Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO)has experienced a decrease in support from the world's most elite money managers in recent months.CDMOwas in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with CDMO positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that CDMO isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. If you'd ask most shareholders, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated financial tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, We look at the upper echelon of this club, approximately 750 funds. These investment experts command the lion's share of the smart money's total capital, and by paying attention to their highest performing stock picks, Insider Monkey has deciphered numerous investment strategies that have historically outrun the market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points a year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). We're going to go over the key hedge fund action regarding Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -18% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 5 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in CDMO a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Iszo Capitalheld the most valuable stake in Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO), which was worth $13.8 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Marshall Wace LLP which amassed $1.2 million worth of shares. Moreover, Renaissance Technologies, Millennium Management, and Zebra Capital Management were also bullish on Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Judging by the fact that Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely in the third quarter. Interestingly, Richard Driehaus'sDriehaus Capitaldumped the biggest investment of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $3.2 million in stock, and Gregory Bylinsky and Jefferson Gramm's Bandera Partners was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.6 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in the third quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO). These stocks are Culp, Inc. (NYSE:CULP), Ramaco Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:METC), Northrim BanCorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NRIM), and Oil-Dri Corporation of America (NYSE:ODC). This group of stocks' market values match CDMO's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CULP,5,18330,1 METC,6,9841,0 NRIM,7,22907,1 ODC,3,29967,-2 Average,5.25,20261,0 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $20 million. That figure was $16 million in CDMO's case. Northrim BanCorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NRIM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Oil-Dri Corporation of America (NYSE:ODC) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CDMO wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on CDMO were disappointed as the stock returned -8.2% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Farmland Partners Inc (FPI) A Good Stock To Buy ? Legendary investors such as Jeffrey Talpins and Seth Klarman earn enormous amounts of money for themselves and their investors by doing in-depth research on small-cap stocks that big brokerage houses don't publish. Small cap stocks -especially when they are screened well- can generate substantial outperformance versus a boring index fund. That's why we analyze the activity of those elite funds in these small-cap stocks. In the following paragraphs, we analyze Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) from the perspective of those elite funds. Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI)was in 9 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. FPI has seen an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with FPI positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FPI isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to check out the recent hedge fund action encompassing Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI). At Q1's end, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 13% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 5 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in FPI a year ago. With hedge funds' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) was held byD E Shaw, which reported holding $2.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Oaktree Capital Management with a $2.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Marshall Wace LLP, Citadel Investment Group, and Forward Management. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness.Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the largest position in Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI). Millennium Management had $0.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologiesalso made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new FPI position is Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK), RedHill Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ:RDHL), Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE), and FVCBankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FVCB). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to FPI's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position TSBK,4,30686,0 RDHL,3,31628,-2 AGLE,17,84161,6 FVCB,3,7575,0 Average,6.75,38513,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 6.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $39 million. That figure was $8 million in FPI's case. Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand RedHill Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ:RDHL) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on FPI, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 5.3% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
What Did Bapcor Limited's (ASX:BAP) CEO Take Home Last Year? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Darryl Abotomey became the CEO of Bapcor Limited (ASX:BAP) in 2011. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO. View our latest analysis for Bapcor Our data indicates that Bapcor Limited is worth AU$1.6b, and total annual CEO compensation is AU$3.1m. (This figure is for the year to June 2018). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at AU$1.2m. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of AU$570m to AU$2.3b. The median total CEO compensation was AU$1.4m. It would therefore appear that Bapcor Limited pays Darryl Abotomey more than the median CEO remuneration at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this fact alone doesn't mean the remuneration is too high. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Bapcor has changed over time. On average over the last three years, Bapcor Limited has grown earnings per share (EPS) by 27% each year (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 5.2% over the last year. This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It's also good to see modest revenue growth, suggesting the underlying business is healthy. You might want to checkthis free visual report onanalyst forecastsfor future earnings. Bapcor Limited has not done too badly by shareholders, with a total return of 8.5%, over three years. But they would probably prefer not to see CEO compensation far in excess of the median. We examined the amount Bapcor Limited pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group. However we must not forget that the EPS growth has been very strong over three years. We also think investors are doing ok, over the same time period. While it may be worth researching further, we don't see a problem with the CEO pay, given the good EPS growth. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really likethis free visualization of insider trading at Bapcor. Important note:Bapcor may not be the best stock to buy. You might find somethingbetterinthis list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Hedge Funds Have Never Been More Bullish On Yatra Online, Inc. (YTRA) The 700+ hedge funds and famous money managers tracked by Insider Monkey have already compiled and submitted their 13F filings for the first quarter, which unveil their equity positions as of March 31. We went through these filings, fixed typos and other more significant errors and identified the changes in hedge fund portfolios. Our extensive review of these public filings is finally over, so this article is set to reveal the smart money sentiment towards Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA). IsYatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA)the right investment to pursue these days? Investors who are in the know are getting more optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund positions improved by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that YTRA isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the financial world there are a multitude of methods stock traders use to evaluate their stock investments. A duo of the best methods are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite money managers can beat the broader indices by a superb margin (see the details here). We're going to take a gander at the recent hedge fund action regarding Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 13% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 5 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in YTRA a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. Among these funds,Altai Capitalheld the most valuable stake in Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA), which was worth $22 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was MAK Capital One which amassed $13.5 million worth of shares. Moreover, Millennium Management, Indus Capital, and Renaissance Technologies were also bullish on Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves.Springbok Capital, managed by Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle, created the most outsized position in Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA). Springbok Capital had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw'sD E Shawalso initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA). These stocks are Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRO), BRT Apartments Corp. (NYSE:BRT), Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS), and BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to YTRA's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position SPRO,7,35021,2 BRT,4,10406,1 MRNS,10,24633,-2 BCBP,2,6458,-2 Average,5.75,19130,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $19 million. That figure was $41 million in YTRA's case. Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately YTRA wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on YTRA were disappointed as the stock returned -18.7% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Gold Fields Limited (GFI) ? The market has been volatile in the last 6 months as the Federal Reserve continued its rate hikes and then abruptly reversed its stance and uncertainty looms over trade negotiations with China. Small cap stocks have been hit hard as a result, as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 9 percentage points. SEC filings and hedge fund investor letters indicate that the smart money seems to be paring back their overall long exposure since summer months, though some funds increased their exposure dramatically at the end of Q4 and the beginning of Q1. In this article, we analyze what the smart money thinks of Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) and find out how it is affected by hedge funds' moves. Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. GFI investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with GFI positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that GFI isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. [caption id="attachment_30621" align="aligncenter" width="487"] Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management[/caption] We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action regarding Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 11% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 14 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in GFI a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI), with a stake worth $75.4 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was AQR Capital Management, which amassed a stake valued at $74.8 million. Millennium Management, Arrowstreet Capital, and Royce & Associates were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves.Springbok Capital, managed by Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle, assembled the most valuable call position in Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI). Springbok Capital had $0.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Costen Haley'sHBK Investmentsalso initiated a $0.3 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI). These stocks are Ardagh Group S.A. (NYSE:ARD), Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU), Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU), and Banco Macro SA (NYSE:BMA). This group of stocks' market values resemble GFI's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position ARD,12,53581,2 CBU,8,16915,-3 BTU,27,1577543,-4 BMA,16,178559,-1 Average,15.75,456650,-1.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 15.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $457 million. That figure was $209 million in GFI's case. Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE:CBU) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on GFI as the stock returned 39.1% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Companhia Paranaense de Energia – COPEL (ELP) Hedge funds are not perfect. They have their bad picks just like everyone else. Facebook, a stock hedge funds have loved dearly, lost nearly 40% of its value at one point in 2018. Although hedge funds are not perfect, their consensus picks do deliver solid returns, however. Our data show the top 20 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 6 percentage points so far in 2019. Because hedge funds have a lot of resources and their consensus picks do well, we pay attention to what they think. In this article, we analyze what the elite funds think of Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP). IsCompanhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP)a buy, sell, or hold? Hedge funds are getting more bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions rose by 2 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that ELP isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.ELPwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with ELP holdings at the end of the previous quarter. In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to take a gander at the key hedge fund action regarding Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 25% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in ELP over the last 15 quarters. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP) was held byD E Shaw, which reported holding $18.3 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Arrowstreet Capital with a $12.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included GLG Partners, Marshall Wace LLP, and Renaissance Technologies. As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were breaking ground themselves.AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, assembled the largest position in Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP). AQR Capital Management had $0.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt.also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is David Costen Haley'sHBK Investments. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP). We will take a look at Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN), Colliers International Group Inc (NASDAQ:CIGI), Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKCA), and Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP). This group of stocks' market values are similar to ELP's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position SWN,24,270841,-1 CIGI,14,670696,1 AKCA,7,27613,1 CEQP,4,8137,1 Average,12.25,244322,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $244 million. That figure was $53 million in ELP's case. Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Crestwood Equity Partners LP (NYSE:CEQP) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL (NYSE:ELP) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on ELP as the stock returned 38.1% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Hamilton Lane Incorporated (HLNE)? Like everyone else, elite investors make mistakes. Some of their top consensus picks, such as Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba, have not done well in Q4 due to various reasons. Nevertheless, the data show elite investors' consensus picks have done well on average over the long-term. The top 20 stocks among hedge funds beat the S&P 500 Index ETF by more than 6 percentage points so far this year. Because their consensus picks have done well, we pay attention to what elite funds think before doing extensive research on a stock. In this article, we take a closer look at Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE) from the perspective of those elite funds. IsHamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE)a bargain? The smart money is in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions advanced by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that HLNE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Today there are a multitude of methods stock traders use to size up their stock investments. A couple of the less utilized methods are hedge fund and insider trading activity. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top investment managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see the details here). We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 13 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in HLNE a year ago. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE), with a stake worth $34.4 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Citadel Investment Group, which amassed a stake valued at $10.9 million. Royce & Associates, Two Sigma Advisors, and HBK Investments were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Now, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves.HBK Investments, managed by David Costen Haley, assembled the most outsized position in Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE). HBK Investments had $1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLPalso made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt.. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Independent Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ:IBTX), Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE), Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V. (NASDAQ:OMAB), and Yext, Inc. (NYSE:YEXT). This group of stocks' market valuations match HLNE's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position IBTX,10,127668,-3 QURE,28,529925,11 OMAB,6,55473,1 YEXT,23,203477,10 Average,16.75,229136,4.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $229 million. That figure was $55 million in HLNE's case. Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V. (NASDAQ:OMAB) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on HLNE as the stock returned 30.2% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Denali Therapeutics Inc. (DNLI) The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We have processed the filings of the more than 700 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their March 31 holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI) for your portfolio? We'll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer. Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI)has experienced an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers in recent months.DNLIwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with DNLI positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that DNLI isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's go over the latest hedge fund action encompassing Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 100% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards DNLI over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists an "upper tier" of key hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions). More specifically,Casdin Capitalwas the largest shareholder of Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI), with a stake worth $2.3 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Casdin Capital was Mark Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $1.6 million. Arrowstreet Capital, Millennium Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Now, key hedge funds were leading the bulls' herd.Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, assembled the most valuable position in Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI). Arrowstreet Capital had $1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementalso made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLP, and Michael Gelband'sExodusPoint Capital. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI). These stocks are Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI), Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN), Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN), and The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE). This group of stocks' market caps resemble DNLI's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position NNI,15,77013,1 APPN,19,331791,10 SHEN,14,100597,3 CAKE,25,219156,4 Average,18.25,182139,4.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 18.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $182 million. That figure was $8 million in DNLI's case. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Denali Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DNLI) is even less popular than SHEN. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards DNLI. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately DNLI wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); DNLI investors were disappointed as the stock returned -14.2% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (BSBR) A Good Stock To Buy ? Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) lagged the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 9 percentage points since the end of the third quarter of 2018 as investors worried over the possible ramifications of rising interest rates and escalation of the trade war with China. The hedge funds and institutional investors we track typically invest more in smaller-cap stocks than an average investor (i.e. only 298 S&P 500 constituents were among the 500 most popular stocks among hedge funds), and we have seen data that shows those funds paring back their overall exposure. Those funds cutting positions in small-caps is one reason why volatility has increased. In the following paragraphs, we take a closer look at what hedge funds and prominent investors think of Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE: BSBR ) and see how the stock is affected by the recent hedge fund activity. Hedge fund interest in Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE: BSBR ) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. At the end of this article we will also compare BSBR to other stocks including Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD ), ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML ), and Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG ) to get a better sense of its popularity. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 ( see the details here ). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Story continues Ken-Heebner Let's view the latest hedge fund action surrounding Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE: BSBR ). Hedge fund activity in Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in BSBR over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). No of Hedge Funds with BSBR Positions The largest stake in Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) was held by GLG Partners , which reported holding $62.2 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Capital Growth Management with a $58.1 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Renaissance Technologies, Two Sigma Advisors, and AQR Capital Management. Since Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's easy to see that there were a few money managers who were dropping their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell's Arrowstreet Capital said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $2.7 million in stock, and Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.9 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD ), ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML ), Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG ), and Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR ). This group of stocks' market valuations match BSBR's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GILD,58,3780289,1 ASML,15,504431,-1 BKNG,77,5667848,-7 CHTR,67,7391525,3 Average,54.25,4336023,-1 [/table] View table here if you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 54.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4336 million. That figure was $161 million in BSBR's case. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML ) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Banco Santander (Brasil) SA (NYSE:BSBR) is even less popular than ASML. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards BSBR. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately BSBR wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); BSBR investors were disappointed as the stock returned 3.7% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey . Related Content How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Do Hedge Funds Love Pattern Energy Group Inc (PEGI)? It is already common knowledge that individual investors do not usually have the necessary resources and abilities to properly research an investment opportunity. As a result, most investors pick their illusory “winners” by making a superficial analysis and research that leads to poor performance on aggregate. Since stock returns aren't usually symmetrically distributed and index returns are more affected by a few outlier stocks (i.e. the FAANG stocks dominating and driving S&P 500 Index's returns in recent years), more than 50% of the constituents of the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index underperform the benchmark. Hence, if you randomly pick a stock, there is more than 50% chance that you'd fail to beat the market. At the same time, the 20 most favored S&P 500 stocks by the hedge funds monitored by Insider Monkey generated an outperformance of 6 percentage points during the first 5 months of 2019. Of course, hedge funds do make wrong bets on some occasions and these get disproportionately publicized on financial media, but piggybacking their moves can beat the broader market on average. That's why we are going to go over recent hedge fund activity in Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI). IsPattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI)a bargain? The smart money is getting less optimistic. The number of bullish hedge fund positions dropped by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that PEGI isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. To most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open today, Our researchers look at the masters of this group, about 750 funds. These hedge fund managers handle the majority of all hedge funds' total asset base, and by watching their unrivaled investments, Insider Monkey has discovered several investment strategies that have historically surpassed the market. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy surpassed the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). [caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption] We're going to review the new hedge fund action encompassing Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 12 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PEGI a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to Insider Monkey's hedge fund database,GLG Partners, managed by Noam Gottesman, holds the number one position in Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI). GLG Partners has a $14.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Matthew Hulsizer ofPEAK6 Capital Management, with a $7.6 million call position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions contain Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, and D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw. Due to the fact that Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's easy to see that there exists a select few money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. Intriguingly, Steve Cohen'sPoint72 Asset Managementcut the biggest investment of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $0.7 million in stock. Richard Driehaus's fund,Driehaus Capital, also cut its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Intelsat S.A. (NYSE:I), InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC), Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT), and Lithia Motors Inc (NYSE:LAD). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble PEGI's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position I,54,733520,12 IDCC,16,172766,-5 MANT,12,16915,2 LAD,17,536544,-3 Average,24.75,364936,1.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $365 million. That figure was $25 million in PEGI's case. Intelsat S.A. (NYSE:I) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Pattern Energy Group Inc (NASDAQ:PEGI) is even less popular than MANT. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on PEGI, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 4.5% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Equinor ASA (EQNR) Reputable billionaire investors such as Jim Simons, Cliff Asness and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won't accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)investors should be aware of a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late. Our calculations also showed that EQNR isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. Let's take a glance at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -23% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 0 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in EQNR a year ago. With hedge funds' capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). More specifically,Renaissance Technologieswas the largest shareholder of Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR), with a stake worth $197.8 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Arrowstreet Capital, which amassed a stake valued at $72 million. Fisher Asset Management, Millennium Management, and Point72 Asset Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Seeing as Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's safe to say that there is a sect of funds who sold off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg'sLeucadia Nationalsaid goodbye to the biggest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at about $9.5 million in stock, and D. E. Shaw's D E Shaw was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $8.2 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR). These stocks are Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), and CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble EQNR's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MS,54,4060103,-3 MDLZ,47,2160286,2 GS,76,7453407,6 CVS,61,908077,-16 Average,59.5,3645468,-2.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 59.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3645 million. That figure was $352 million in EQNR's case. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) is the least popular one with only 47 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) is even less popular than MDLZ. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards EQNR. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately EQNR wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); EQNR investors were disappointed as the stock returned -10.7% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) A Good Stock To Buy? Investing in hedge funds can bring large profits, but it’s not for everybody, since hedge funds are available only for high-net-worth individuals. They generate significant returns for investors to justify their large fees and they allocate a lot of time and employ a complex analysis to determine the best stocks to invest in. A particularly interesting group of stocks that hedge funds like is the small-caps. The huge amount of capital does not allow hedge funds to invest a lot in small-caps, but our research showed that their most popular small-cap ideas are less efficiently priced and generate stronger returns than their large- and mega-cap picks and the broader market. That is why we pay special attention to the hedge fund activity in the small-cap space. IsSumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG)a worthy investment now? Money managers are taking a pessimistic view. The number of long hedge fund bets were cut by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that smfg isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.SMFGwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with SMFG positions at the end of the previous quarter. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. [caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption] We're going to go over the fresh hedge fund action regarding Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -9% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in SMFG over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG) was held byFisher Asset Management, which reported holding $389.9 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $10.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Two Sigma Advisors, Marshall Wace LLP, and D E Shaw. Because Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold'sLMR Partnerscut the largest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, totaling about $23.9 million in stock, and Israel Englander's Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.5 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG). These stocks are General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD), Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN), and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). This group of stocks' market valuations are similar to SMFG's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GD,42,6460054,5 EXC,33,2513347,0 AGN,53,3989971,-8 TSLA,32,1066853,-15 Average,40,3507556,-4.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 40 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3508 million. That figure was $408 million in SMFG's case. Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is the least popular one with only 32 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG) is even less popular than TSLA. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards SMFG. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately SMFG wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); SMFG investors were disappointed as the stock returned -1.4% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
UFC: Daniel Cormier set to host Kobe Bryant's 'Detail' Daniel Cormier holds his belts after defeating Derrick Lewis by submission during the second round of a heavyweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 230, early Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Not only is Daniel Cormier, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, one of the greatest fighters in the history of mixed martial arts, he also has one of its most keen minds for the game. His understanding of the game and ability to explain it simply and concisely have made him the top television analyst in the sport. As a result, Cormier will host the first UFC edition of “Detail,” the series founded by former Lakers’ great Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios, which to this point has examined in-depth athletes in basketball and football. Bryant himself hosted the basketball shows, while legendary Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning did the football breakdowns. The five-part UFC series of “Detail,” will debut on Monday on ESPN+ and will feature Cormier breaking down the skills and successes of Amanda Nunes. Nunes will defend her women’s bantamweight title on July 6 in the co-main event of UFC 239 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against top-rated Holly Holm. Like Cormier, who also held the UFC’s light heavyweight belt before surrendering it, Nunes is a dual champion. She knocked out Cris “Cyborg” Justino in her last outing, taking just 51 seconds at UFC 232 to win the women’s featherweight crown. (ESPN) Cormier will write the episodes and provide the analysis for each. “I can’t tell you how excited I am about doing a UFC edition of ‘Detail,’ and expanding the show to a new MMA audience,” Cormier said. “When I first saw how Kobe breaks down NBA stars and how Peyton Manning explains the NFL, I knew that same kind of analysis applied perfectly to UFC. When you see a knockout or a submission, it’s exciting and fun to watch, but there is so much that goes into setting up that exciting result: So much technique; so much tactical expertise; so many hours of mental and physical development. I can’t wait to break it all down for UFC fans.” After the debut episode analyzes Nunes, subsequent episodes will look at former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor; welterweight champion Kamaru Usman; lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov; and interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Story continues Bryant said Cormier was a natural to do the show for UFC fans. “‘Detail’ was designed to teach the next generation of greats how to strategize their sport by those who have already mastered it,” Bryant said in a statement. “There is no one better to teach MMA than DC. Not only is he one of the greatest to ever enter the Octagon, but his ability to communicate the how, why and what of UFC fights is unparalleled. Now that the UFC is available on ESPN+, expanding ‘Detail’ to support their coverage will help bring more insight to the tactics and strategy behind each fight.” More from Yahoo Sports: Why Alex Morgan was key to USWNT despite not scoring Report: Durant’s free agent wish list has four teams Rapinoe steals show as USWNT beats co-favorite France Report: Kawhi wants Magic involved in Lakers meeting
Is ING Groep N.V. (ING) A Good Stock To Buy ? The market has been volatile in the last 6 months as the Federal Reserve continued its rate hikes and then abruptly reversed its stance and uncertainty looms over trade negotiations with China. Small cap stocks have been hit hard as a result, as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 9 percentage points. SEC filings and hedge fund investor letters indicate that the smart money seems to be paring back their overall long exposure since summer months, though some funds increased their exposure dramatically at the end of Q4 and the beginning of Q1. In this article, we analyze what the smart money thinks of ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING) and find out how it is affected by hedge funds' moves. ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING)has seen an increase in support from the world's most elite money managers in recent months.INGwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with ING holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that ing isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. [caption id="attachment_746830" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Matthew Hulsizer of PEAK6 Capital[/caption] We're going to go over the key hedge fund action surrounding ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 43% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in ING over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Fisher Asset Managementwas the largest shareholder of ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING), with a stake worth $472.1 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Fisher Asset Management was Orbis Investment Management, which amassed a stake valued at $8.9 million. Renaissance Technologies, Citadel Investment Group, and PEAK6 Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. As industrywide interest jumped, some big names were leading the bulls' herd.Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, established the most valuable position in ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING). Orbis Investment Management had $8.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupalso initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Thomas Bailard'sBailard Inc. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING). We will take a look at America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW), and UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS). This group of stocks' market valuations match ING's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position AMX,14,234341,2 VRTX,45,2285930,6 ITW,27,315022,-1 UBS,11,750775,0 Average,24.25,896517,1.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $897 million. That figure was $492 million in ING's case. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING) is even less popular than UBS. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards ING. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately ING wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); ING investors were disappointed as the stock returned -2.6% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On OSI Systems, Inc. (OSIS) ? Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds' and successful investors' positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund's trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS) based on that data. IsOSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS)a buy here? Hedge funds are betting on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets improved by 5 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that OSIS isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. [caption id="attachment_746830" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Matthew Hulsizer of PEAK6 Capital[/caption] Let's go over the latest hedge fund action encompassing OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 100% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 9 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in OSIS a year ago. So, let's check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to Insider Monkey's hedge fund database,Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, holds the largest position in OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS). Winton Capital Management has a $7.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Winton Capital Management's heels isArrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which holds a $6.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions include Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider'sSG Capital Management, Joel Greenblatt'sGotham Asset Managementand Peter Muller'sPDT Partners. As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves.Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, established the most valuable position in OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS). Winton Capital Management had $7.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capitalalso initiated a $6.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider'sSG Capital Management, Peter Muller'sPDT Partners, and Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS). We will take a look at HNI Corp (NYSE:HNI), Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD), Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA), and Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU). This group of stocks' market valuations match OSIS's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position HNI,18,34722,0 HTLD,14,27625,7 SAIA,14,38736,-4 GLUU,25,130789,5 Average,17.75,57968,2 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 17.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $58 million. That figure was $26 million in OSIS's case. Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS) is even less popular than HTLD. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on OSIS as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on OSIS as the stock returned 29.5% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Chimera Investment Corporation (CIM) A Good Stock To Buy ? It was a rough fourth quarter for many hedge funds, which were naturally unable to overcome the big dip in the broad market, as the S&P 500 fell by about 4.8% during 2018 and average hedge fund losing about 1%. The Russell 2000, composed of smaller companies, performed even worse, trailing the S&P by more than 6 percentage points, as investors fled less-known quantities for safe havens. Luckily hedge funds were shifting their holdings into large-cap stocks. The 20 most popular hedge fund stocks actually generated an average return of 18.7% so far in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF by 6.6 percentage points. We are done processing the latest 13f filings and in this article we will study how hedge fund sentiment towards Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM) changed during the first quarter. IsChimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM)a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions shrunk by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that cim isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's go over the key hedge fund action surrounding Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -9% from the fourth quarter of 2018. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in CIM over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). Among these funds,Omega Advisorsheld the most valuable stake in Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM), which was worth $90.4 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Renaissance Technologies which amassed $21.8 million worth of shares. Moreover, PEAK6 Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Winton Capital Management were also bullish on Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Because Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM) has faced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementsaid goodbye to the largest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $2.6 million in stock, and Matthew Hulsizer's PEAK6 Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.3 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds in the third quarter. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM). We will take a look at Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:SLAB), AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE:AUO), Liberty Latin America Ltd. (NASDAQ:LILA), and Telephone & Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS). This group of stocks' market values match CIM's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position SLAB,12,40386,-5 AUO,8,63727,-1 LILA,14,163739,1 TDS,23,438093,1 Average,14.25,176486,-1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $176 million. That figure was $118 million in CIM's case. Telephone & Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE:AUO) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately CIM wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); CIM investors were disappointed as the stock returned 2.5% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Scholastic Corp (SCHL) A Good Stock To Buy? At Insider Monkey, we pore over the filings of nearly 750 top investment firms every quarter, a process we have now completed for the latest reporting period. The data we've gathered as a result gives us access to a wealth of collective knowledge based on these firms' portfolio holdings as of March 31. In this article, we will use that wealth of knowledge to determine whether or not Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) makes for a good investment right now. Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL)investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.SCHLwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with SCHL holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that SCHL isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's take a look at the new hedge fund action surrounding Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -23% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 8 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in SCHL a year ago. With the smart money's positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an "upper tier" of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) was held byRoyce & Associates, which reported holding $82.6 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Citadel Investment Group with a $3.4 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Millennium Management, AQR Capital Management, and Two Sigma Advisors. Seeing as Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) has faced a decline in interest from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Jim Simons'sRenaissance Technologiessold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1.9 million in stock. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace's fund,Marshall Wace LLP, also dropped its stock, about $0.9 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in the third quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) but similarly valued. These stocks are Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:INSP), Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT), LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC), and WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE). This group of stocks' market caps are closest to SCHL's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position INSP,18,254212,3 SAFT,11,43699,0 LC,11,6740,4 WVE,24,552215,3 Average,16,214217,2.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $214 million. That figure was $92 million in SCHL's case. WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) is even less popular than SAFT. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards SCHL. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately SCHL wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); SCHL investors were disappointed as the stock returned -16.5% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Class Limited (ASX:CL1) A Smart Pick For Income Investors? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Is Class Limited (ASX:CL1) a good dividend stock? How can we tell? Dividend paying companies with growing earnings can be highly rewarding in the long term. Yet sometimes, investors buy a popular dividend stock because of its yield, and then lose money if the company's dividend doesn't live up to expectations. Class pays a 3.3% dividend yield, and has been paying dividends for the past three years. It's certainly an attractive yield, but readers are likely curious about its staying power. The company also bought back stock equivalent to around 0.7% of market capitalisation this year. There are a few simple ways to reduce the risks of buying Class for its dividend, and we'll go through these below. Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis Dividends are usually paid out of company earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. Looking at the data, we can see that 67% of Class's profits were paid out as dividends in the last 12 months. This is a fairly normal payout ratio among most businesses. It allows a higher dividend to be paid to shareholders, but does limit the capital retained in the business - which could be good or bad. We also measure dividends paid against a company's levered free cash flow, to see if enough cash was generated to cover the dividend. Class paid out 92% of its free cash flow last year, suggesting the dividend is poorly covered by cash flow. Class paid out less in dividends than it reported in profits, but unfortunately it didn't generate enough free cash flow to cover the dividend. Cash is king, as they say, and were Class to repeatedly pay dividends that aren't well covered by cashflow, we would consider this a warning sign. Remember, you can always get a snapshot of Class's latest financial position,by checking our visualisation of its financial health. One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. It has only been paying dividends for a few short years, and the dividend has already been cut at least once. This is one income stream we're not ready to live on. During the past three-year period, the first annual payment was AU$0.04 in 2016, compared to AU$0.05 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 7.7% a year over that time. Class's dividend payments have fluctuated, so it hasn't grown 7.7% every year, but the CAGR is a useful rule of thumb for approximating the historical growth. Dividends have grown at a reasonable rate, but with at least one substantial cut in the payments, we're not certain this dividend stock would be ideal for someone intending to live on the income. With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share (EPS) are growing - it's not worth taking the risk on a dividend getting cut, unless you might be rewarded with larger dividends in future. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see Class has grown its earnings per share at 33% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share are sharply up, but we wonder if paying out more than half its earnings (leaving less for reinvestment) is an implicit signal that Class's growth will be slower in the future. Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. First, we think Class has an acceptable payout ratio, although its dividend was not well covered by cashflow. Next, earnings growth has been good, but unfortunately the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. Ultimately, Class comes up short on our dividend analysis. It's not that we think it is a bad company - just that there are likely more appealing dividend prospects out there on this analysis. Earnings growth generally bodes well for the future value of company dividend payments. See if the 4 Class analysts we track are forecasting continued growth with ourfreereport on analyst estimates for the company. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at ourcurated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Cease-fire in US-China trade war doesn't bridge differences WASHINGTON (AP) Once again, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have hit the reset button in trade talks between the world's two biggest economies, at least delaying an escalation in tension between the U.S. and China that had financial markets on edge and cast a cloud over the global economy. But when U.S. and Chinese negotiators sit down to work out details, the same difficult task remains: getting China to convince the United States that it will curb its aggressive push to challenge American technological dominance and then to live up to its promises. At the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, Trump and Xi agreed to a cease-fire in the trade conflict . Trump said Saturday he would hold off for the "time being" on plans to impose tariffs on $300 billion more in Chinese imports on top of the $250 billion he's already targeted. This decision will jump-start trade talks that stalled last month. "We're going to work with China where we left off," Trump said Saturday. He also said China had agreed to buy more American farm products. Andy Rothman, an investment strategist with Matthews Asia and a former economic official with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said the Trump-Xi meeting was more conciliatory than he expected. He was struck by Trump's use of the term "strategic partner" to describe U.S. relations with China after other administration officials have played up the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries. Addressing another contentious issue, Trump said he will now allow U.S. companies to sell some components to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which last month was put on an American blacklist as a threat to national security. Trump said that Huawei will stay on the blacklist, however, and that its future won't be decided until the end of the trade talks. Neil Shearing, London-based chief economist at Capital Economics, predicted that financial markets will rally with relief when they reopen Monday. "But I don't think this marks the turning of the tide," he said. "Talks will ebb and flow, but the direction over the next 12 months will be toward renewed escalation because issues around industrial strategy will prove to be so intractable." Story continues The Trump administration says China is trying to cheat its way to dominance in the cutting-edge technologies of the future such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In a report last year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative accused Beijing of resorting to predatory tactics to challenge American technological supremacy. These include forcing foreign companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market; subsidizing its own companies (especially those owned by the state) while burying foreign firms in regulations; providing government money so Chinese firms can buy sensitive foreign technology at above-market prices; and stealing trade secrets outright. Eleven rounds of talks failed to end the standoff. The United States has imposed 25% import taxes on $250 billion in Chinese products and threatened to target $300 billion more a move that would extend the tariffs to virtually everything China ships to the United States. China has lashed back with tariffs on $110 billion in American goods, focusing on agricultural products in a direct and painful shot at Trump supporters in the U.S. farm belt. The last time Trump and Xi met in early December at a G-20 gathering in Buenos Aires, Argentina they also reached a cease-fire that injected new life into the talks. But the momentum didn't last. Until May, it appeared that the two countries were slowly closing in on a deal. But then U.S. officials accused their Chinese counterparts of reneging on commitments they'd made earlier, and talks broke down. Getting them back on track could prove difficult. Beijing is reluctant to end subsidies to Chinese companies and to write any commitments into Chinese law. The Chinese also want the United States to drop its tariffs as a condition of any deal. But the Trump administration insists on keeping tariffs to use as leverage to make sure that China keeps its promises. For now, business groups are relieved that the tariffs aren't expanding and optimistic the two countries can reach a deal. "We are encouraged that China and the United States have agreed to continue negotiations without further escalation of the mutually damaging trade war," said Jason Oxman, president of the Information Technology Industry Council. "We are also relieved that President Trump has reconsidered his threat to impose additional tariffs, which would have accelerated harm to all American consumers, workers, and businesses of all sizes." Still, the decision to go easy on Huawei drew immediate fire politically. "Huawei is one of few potent levers we have to make China play fair on trade," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "If President Trump backs off, as it appears he is doing, it will dramatically undercut our ability to change China's unfair trades practices." The Commerce Department put the firm on a blacklist because of the possibility its equipment could be used for cyberespionage. Trump suggested that his administration will review the company's status on Commerce's so-called Entity List and cleared the way for U.S. firms to sell it some components. Both countries have economic and political incentives to reach a deal. Xi is overseeing a decelerating economy and likely won't want to be engaged in a destructive trade war when China's ruling Communist Party meets in October. Trump, too, is confronted with an economy that, though still healthy, has looked a bit wobbly. And the trade hostilities with China have hurt his supporters in rural America as he campaigns for re-election in 2020. "This is a truce for now - for Xi, ahead of the Communist Party celebrations in October and for Trump, dependent on how his re-election campaign progresses," said Diana Choyleva, chief economist at Enodo Economics. "But as we've said before, fundamentally, this dispute is about much more than trade - it's part of a longer-term Great Decoupling that stems from a conflict over technological supremacy and geopolitical power. This is about redefining the world political and economic order, a process that will see periods of relative calm and also periods of significant turbulence." "Both Chinese and U.S. leaders recognize the importance of bringing the relations back to the right track," said Li Yong of the China Association of International Trade. "President Xi said we hoped to see normal relations. It's hard to predict what will happen tomorrow, so I cannot say when the relations will return to right track." ___ Chan reported from London ___ Associated Press journalists Josh Boak in Washington and Joe McDonald, Fu Ting and Sam McNeil in Beijing contributed to this report.
How Comcast and Other Hedge Fund Favorites Performed in Q2 Insider Monkey tracks hedge funds, billionaires, and prominent value investors for a very simple reason: their consensus picks generally outperform the market. We aren’t the only research shop broadcasting this fact using a bullhorn. Here is what strategist Ben Snider said in Goldman Sachs’ periodic hedge fund report: “Despite the strong track record of popular hedge fund stocks, investors often view high ownership as a negative trait when evaluating stock prospects. Clients often ask us to include hedge fund ownership data in stock screens, expressing a preference for buying ‘under-owned’ stocks.” “In fact, during the past decade hedge fund popularity has been a more useful criterion for selecting stocks than valuations…. The signals from hedge fund popularity and valuation have been particularly useful in combination, especially for investors with slightly longer investment horizons. During the past decade, popular stocks have generally outperformed unpopular stocks across both 3- and 12-month investment horizons” Snider concluded. It may sound like I am tooting my own horn, but Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter is actually superior to Goldman’s report. That’s because we separated the hedge fund favorites into long and short buckets. Our long bucket of hedge fund favorites returned 34.1% in the first half of 2019, whereas our short bucket of hedge fund favorites gained 21.4% during the same period. Hedge funds’ favorite top 20 stocks, on the other hand, returned 24% so far in 2019. You could have beaten the S&P 500 Index funds by 5.7 percentage points by investing inhedge funds’ top 20 picksin 2019, whereas you could have outperformed the index funds by 15.8 percentage points if you invested in our top hedge fund picks. You cantry out our newsletterfree of charge for 14 days to see hedge funds’ latest best stock picks. The #19 most popular stock among the 743 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey wasComcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).Comcast was also the 19th most popular stock among hedge funds at the end of December (see the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds). We have to warn you against indiscriminately imitating hedge funds' all stock picks. Hedge funds' top 20 stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index funds by 5.7 percentage points this year, but hedge funds' top 500 stock picks had the same return as the S&P 500 Index this quarter. Investing in a hedge fund's 35th best idea doesn't give you the same return as investing in a hedge fund's best idea. [caption id="attachment_25251" align="aligncenter" width="450"] George Soros[/caption] Let's view the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 87 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 5% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 97 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in CMCSA a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was held byEagle Capital Management, which reported holding $1321.2 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by First Pacific Advisors LLC with a $497.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Two Sigma Advisors, Southeastern Asset Management, and AQR Capital Management. With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls' herd.Suvretta Capital Management, managed by Aaron Cowen, assembled the biggest position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA). Suvretta Capital Management had $150.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Karthik Sarma'sSRS Investment Managementalso initiated a $46.1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CMCSA positions are George Soros'sSoros Fund Management, Brandon Haley'sHolocene Advisors, and Joshua Nash'sUlysses Management. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) but similarly valued. We will take a look at PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM), Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD), and HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HSBC). This group of stocks' market valuations match CMCSA's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PEP,51,4490981,-2 TM,10,161453,2 BUD,22,1493242,1 HSBC,12,1080398,1 Average,23.75,1806519,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 23.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1807 million. That figure was $6280 million in CMCSA's case. PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.4% in Q2 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on CMCSA as the stock returned 6.3% during the same period and outperformed the market as well. Comcast shares also beat the market so far this year, returning close to 25%. Hedge funds were once again right about piling into this stock instead of other stocks index funds indiscriminately buying. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey.
Does DWS Limited (ASX:DWS) Have A Place In Your Dividend Stock Portfolio? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Could DWS Limited (ASX:DWS) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. On the other hand, investors have been known to buy a stock because of its yield, and then lose money if the company's dividend doesn't live up to expectations. With DWS yielding 6.8% and having paid a dividend for over 10 years, many investors likely find the company quite interesting. It would not be a surprise to discover that many investors buy it for the dividends. Some simple research can reduce the risk of buying DWS for its dividend - read on to learn more. Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on DWS! Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. As a result, we should always investigate whether a company can afford its dividend, measured as a percentage of a company's net income after tax. DWS paid out 95% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. With a payout ratio this high, we'd say its dividend is not well covered by earnings. This may be fine if earnings are growing, but it might not take much of a downturn for the dividend to come under pressure. We also measure dividends paid against a company's levered free cash flow, to see if enough cash was generated to cover the dividend. The company paid out 85% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is adequate, but reduces the wriggle room in the event of a downturn. While the dividend was not well covered by profits, at least they were covered by free cash flow. Still, if the company continues paying out such a high percentage of its profits, the dividend could be at risk if business turns sour. As DWS's dividend was not well covered by earnings, we need to check its balance sheet for signs of financial distress. A quick check of its financial situation can be done with two ratios: net debt divided by EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), and net interest cover. Net debt to EBITDA is a measure of a company's total debt. Net interest cover measures the ability to meet interest payments. Essentially we check that a) the company does not have too much debt, and b) that it can afford to pay the interest. With net debt of 1.67 times its EBITDA, DWS has an acceptable level of debt. Net interest cover can be calculated by dividing earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by the company's net interest expense. DWS has interest cover of more than 12 times its interest expense, which we think is quite strong. Consider gettingour latest analysis on DWS's financial position here. From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. For the purpose of this article, we only scrutinise the last decade of DWS's dividend payments. Its dividend payments have fallen by 20% or more on at least one occasion over the past ten years. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was AU$0.11 in 2009, compared to AU$0.08 last year. This works out to be a decline of approximately 3.1% per year over that time. DWS's dividend hasn't shrunk linearly at 3.1% per annum, but the CAGR is a useful estimate of the historical rate of change. We struggle to make a case for buying DWS for its dividend, given that payments have shrunk over the past ten years. Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. Over the past five years, it looks as though DWS's EPS have declined at around 5.8% a year. If earnings continue to decline, the dividend may come under pressure. Every investor should make an assessment of whether the company is taking steps to stabilise the situation. When we look at a dividend stock, we need to form a judgement on whether the dividend will grow, if the company is able to maintain it in a wide range of economic circumstances, and if the dividend payout is sustainable. We're not keen on the fact that DWS paid out such a high percentage of its income, although its cashflow is in better shape. Earnings per share are down, and DWS's dividend has been cut at least once in the past, which is disappointing. In this analysis, DWS doesn't shape up too well as a dividend stock. We'd find it hard to look past the flaws, and would not be inclined to think of it as a reliable dividend-payer. You can also discover whether shareholders are aligned with insider interests bychecking our visualisation of insider shareholdings and trades in DWS stock. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try ourcurated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Bitcoin Price Spikes Fueled by Weekend Trading Surges: Report Thestock marketcloses on the weekends, but bitcoin never closes. And that’s probably why you see the industry constantly whipsawed by wildbitcoin pricefluctuations. While you’re enjoying a relaxing weekend, crypto traders elsewhere are busy buying and selling. Since May, the flurry of weekend trading has accounted for 40% of bitcoin’s price gains this year,Bloombergreported. There are several reasons why this may be happening. David Tawil is the president of crypto hedge fund ProChain Capital. Tawil says one factor is that antsy crypto traders want to get ahead of the pack by trading on the weekend. “It’s a little bit of anticipatory or front-running the news cycle by trading up on the weekend. You’re somewhat flying blind in the sense that you don’t know if there will really be an announcement made on Monday morning. But in a packed news cycle like crypto…I don’t think it’s wrong to bet that Monday morning would have a positive development.” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone believes that savvy traders try to take advantage of weekend lulls to turn a quick profit. Read the full story on CCN.com.
Can We See Significant Insider Ownership On The Japara Healthcare Limited (ASX:JHC) Share Register? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Every investor in Japara Healthcare Limited (ASX:JHC) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Warren Buffett said that he likes 'a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people'. So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented. With a market capitalization of AU$301m, Japara Healthcare is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutions are noticeable on the share registry. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholder can tell us about JHC. Check out our latest analysis for Japara Healthcare Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. We can see that Japara Healthcare does have institutional investors; and they hold 54% of the stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Japara Healthcare's historic earnings and revenue, below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Japara Healthcare. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board; and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board, themselves. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. We can see that insiders own shares in Japara Healthcare Limited. In their own names, insiders own AU$19m worth of stock in the AU$301m company. This shows at least some alignment. You canclick here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling. The general public holds a 37% stake in JHC. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. I like to dive deeperinto how a company has performed in the past. You can findhistoric revenue and earnings in thisdetailed graph. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can checkthis free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
How Japara Healthcare Limited (ASX:JHC) Can Impact Your Portfolio Volatility Want to participate in a short research study ? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! If you own shares in Japara Healthcare Limited ( ASX:JHC ) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market. Some stocks see their prices move in concert with the market. Others tend towards stronger, gentler or unrelated price movements. Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock's exposure to market risk (volatility). Before we go on, it's worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' Having said that, beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta greater than one is more sensitive to broader market movements than a stock with a beta of less than one. See our latest analysis for Japara Healthcare What does JHC's beta value mean to investors? Looking at the last five years, Japara Healthcare has a beta of 1.21. The fact that this is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. If this beta value holds true in the future, Japara Healthcare shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether Japara Healthcare is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below. Story continues ASX:JHC Income Statement, June 29th 2019 Could JHC's size cause it to be more volatile? Japara Healthcare is a rather small company. It has a market capitalisation of AU$301m, which means it is probably under the radar of most investors. It has a relatively high beta, suggesting it is fairly actively traded for a company of its size. Because it takes less capital to move the share price of a small company like this, when a stock this size is actively traded it is quite often more sensitive to market volatility than similar large companies. What this means for you: Beta only tells us that the Japara Healthcare share price is sensitive to broader market movements. This could indicate that it is a high growth company, or is heavily influenced by sentiment because it is speculative. Alternatively, it could have operating leverage in its business model. Ultimately, beta is an interesting metric, but there's plenty more to learn. This article aims to educate investors about beta values, but it's well worth looking at important company-specific fundamentals such as Japara Healthcare’s financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following: Future Outlook : What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for JHC’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for JHC’s outlook. Financial Health : Are JHC’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here . Other High-Performing Stocks : Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here . We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com . This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (TRWH) Is Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH) a good place to invest some of your money right now? We can gain invaluable insight to help us answer that question by studying the investment trends of top investors, who employ world-class Ivy League graduates, who are given immense resources and industry contacts to put their financial expertise to work. The top picks of these firms have historically outperformed the market when we account for known risk factors, making them very valuable investment ideas. Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH)has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest in recent months. Our calculations also showed that TRWH isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the financial world there are several signals market participants use to size up publicly traded companies. A duo of the best signals are hedge fund and insider trading signals. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best fund managers can outpace the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see the details here). Let's take a look at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 10 from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 0 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in TRWH a year ago. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey,Solus Alternative Asset Management, managed by Christopher Pucillo, holds the largest position in Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH). Solus Alternative Asset Management has a $129.8 million position in the stock, comprising 31.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager isHG Vora Capital Management, managed by Parag Vora, which holds a $66.5 million position; 4.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism consist of Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro'sPAR Capital Management, Leon Cooperman'sOmega Advisorsand Andy Rebak and Michael Scott'sFarmstead Capital Management. Now, key hedge funds have jumped into Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH) headfirst.Solus Alternative Asset Management, managed by Christopher Pucillo, established the biggest position in Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH). Solus Alternative Asset Management had $129.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Parag Vora'sHG Vora Capital Managementalso initiated a $66.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new TRWH positions are Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro'sPAR Capital Management, Leon Cooperman'sOmega Advisors, and Andy Rebak and Michael Scott'sFarmstead Capital Management. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH). We will take a look at Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (NYSE:BKD), Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRHC), Presidio, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSDO), and Monmouth R.E. Inv. Corp. (NYSE:MNR). This group of stocks' market values resemble TRWH's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BKD,27,362928,1 TRHC,7,22718,-5 PSDO,25,57575,19 MNR,9,57010,0 Average,17,125058,3.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $125 million. That figure was $312 million in TRWH's case. Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. (NYSE:BKD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRHC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TRWH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately TRWH wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); TRWH investors were disappointed as the stock returned -3.4% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Hercules Capital, Inc. (HTGC) A Good Stock To Buy ? There are several ways to beat the market, and investing in small cap stocks has historically been one of them. We like to improve the odds of beating the market further by examining what famous hedge fund operators such as Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Carl Icahn think. Those hedge fund operators make billions of dollars each year by hiring the best and the brightest to do research on stocks, including small cap stocks that big brokerage houses simply don't cover. Because of Carl Icahn and other elite funds' exemplary historical records, we pay attention to their small cap picks. In this article, we use hedge fund filing data to analyze Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC). Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC)was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2019. HTGC shareholders have witnessed a decrease in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with HTGC positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that HTGC isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. We're going to take a peek at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards HTGC over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey,McKinley Capital Management, managed by Robert B. Gillam, holds the largest position in Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC). McKinley Capital Management has a $4.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. On McKinley Capital Management's heels is Bernard Horn ofPolaris Capital Management, with a $2.6 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions comprise D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Israel Englander'sMillennium Management. Due to the fact that Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has witnessed declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it's easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorscut the biggest stake of the "upper crust" of funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $1.8 million in stock, and David Costen Haley's HBK Investments was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1.8 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC). These stocks are CorVel Corporation (NASDAQ:CRVL), PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA), Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT), and Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE). This group of stocks' market caps resemble HTGC's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position CRVL,16,120959,1 PRAA,11,34936,1 ADNT,23,275036,-4 SYKE,17,50966,1 Average,16.75,120474,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $120 million. That figure was $10 million in HTGC's case. Adient plc (NYSE:ADNT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) is even less popular than PRAA. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on HTGC, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 3.8% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Summit Hotel Properties Inc (INN) A Good Stock To Buy ? Hedge funds and large money managers usually invest with a focus on the long-term horizon and, therefore, short-lived dips or bumps on the charts, usually don't make them change their opinion towards a company. This time it may be different. During the fourth quarter of 2018 we observed increased volatility and small-cap stocks underperformed the market. Things completely reversed during the first quarter. Hedge fund investor letters indicated that they are cutting their overall exposure, closing out some position and doubling down on others. Let’s take a look at the hedge fund sentiment towards Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN) to find out whether it was one of their high conviction long-term ideas. IsSummit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN)a safe investment today? Money managers are becoming less confident. The number of long hedge fund positions retreated by 1 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that INN isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. At the moment there are several formulas stock market investors put to use to appraise stocks. A pair of the most underrated formulas are hedge fund and insider trading signals. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the broader indices by a solid amount (see the details here). [caption id="attachment_758454" align="aligncenter" width="450"] James Dondero of Highland Capital Management[/caption] We're going to take a glance at the new hedge fund action surrounding Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -9% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards INN over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN) was held byMillennium Management, which reported holding $7.1 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $2.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Two Sigma Advisors, Point72 Asset Management, and Highland Capital Management. Judging by the fact that Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's safe to say that there were a few hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in the third quarter. Intriguingly, D. E. Shaw'sD E Shawsold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, worth close to $0.7 million in stock, and Jeffrey Talpins's Element Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in the third quarter. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN). These stocks are Encore Wire Corporation (NASDAQ:WIRE), TriCo Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBK), Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE:TGP), and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPPI). This group of stocks' market values are similar to INN's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position WIRE,16,42071,4 TCBK,9,35706,-1 TGP,8,39655,0 SPPI,13,66199,-4 Average,11.5,45908,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $46 million. That figure was $14 million in INN's case. Encore Wire Corporation (NASDAQ:WIRE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE:TGP) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Summit Hotel Properties Inc (NYSE:INN) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately INN wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); INN investors were disappointed as the stock returned 3.6% during the same time period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Frontline Ltd (FRO) ? Hedge funds and other investment firms that we track manage billions of dollars of their wealthy clients' money, and needless to say, they are painstakingly thorough when analyzing where to invest this money, as their own wealth also depends on it. Regardless of the various methods used by elite investors like David Tepper and David Abrams, the resources they expend are second-to-none. This is especially valuable when it comes to small-cap stocks, which is where they generate their strongest outperformance, as their resources give them a huge edge when it comes to studying these stocks compared to the average investor, which is why we intently follow their activity in the small-cap space. Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO)shareholders have witnessed an increase in activity from the world's largest hedge funds of late.FROwas in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 6 hedge funds in our database with FRO positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FRO isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. So, why do we pay attention to hedge fund sentiment before making any investment decisions? Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Even if you aren't comfortable with shorting stocks, you should at least avoid initiating long positions in our short portfolio. We're going to review the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 67% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 4 hedge funds with a bullish position in FRO a year ago. So, let's see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. More specifically,Odey Asset Management Groupwas the largest shareholder of Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO), with a stake worth $21.2 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Odey Asset Management Group was Renaissance Technologies, which amassed a stake valued at $7.7 million. Citadel Investment Group, Citadel Investment Group, and PEAK6 Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have jumped into Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO) headfirst.PEAK6 Capital Management, managed by Matthew Hulsizer, established the largest position in Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO). PEAK6 Capital Management had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander'sMillennium Managementalso initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new FRO positions are Cliff Asness'sAQR Capital Management, Andrew Weiss'sWeiss Asset Management, and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace'sMarshall Wace LLP. Let's go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO). These stocks are Easterly Government Properties Inc (NYSE:DEA), Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC), MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSI), and Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to FRO's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position DEA,6,78261,1 EFSC,15,52852,0 MTSI,16,134289,1 CSIQ,11,122280,0 Average,12,96921,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $97 million. That figure was $32 million in FRO's case. MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Easterly Government Properties Inc (NYSE:DEA) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on FRO as the stock returned 19.8% during the same time frame and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Northwest Pipe Company (NWPX) Hedge funds and other investment firms run by legendary investors like Israel Englander, Jeffrey Talpins and Ray Dalio are entrusted to manage billions of dollars of accredited investors' money because they are without peer in the resources they use to identify the best investments for their chosen investment horizon. Moreover, they are more willing to invest a greater amount of their resources in small-cap stocks than big brokerage houses, and this is often where they generate their outperformance, which is why we pay particular attention to their best ideas in this space. Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX)has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently. Our calculations also showed that NWPX isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are viewed as slow, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, Our experts hone in on the moguls of this club, about 750 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people oversee bulk of the smart money's total capital, and by observing their first-class stock picks, Insider Monkey has brought to light various investment strategies that have historically outrun the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey's flagship hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by around 5 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014 through June 18th. We were able to generate large returns even by identifying short candidates. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 28.2% since February 2017 (through June 18th) even though the market was up nearly 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 5 short targets in ourlatest quarterly updateand they are already down an average of 8.2% in a month whereas our long picks outperformed the market by 2.5 percentage points in this volatile 5 week period (our long picks also beat the market by 15 percentage points so far this year). We're going to take a glance at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 43% from the fourth quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 8 hedge funds with a bullish position in NWPX a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX) was held byRoyce & Associates, which reported holding $27.9 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Fairfax Financial Holdings with a $3.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included AlphaOne Capital Partners, D E Shaw, and Renaissance Technologies. Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness.SG Capital Management, managed by Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider, assembled the most outsized position in Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX). SG Capital Management had $1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupalso made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell'sArrowstreet Capital. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PHAS), Galectin Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:GALT), Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI), and Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK). This group of stocks' market valuations resemble NWPX's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position PHAS,4,20675,-2 GALT,7,3665,3 FPI,9,7945,1 TSBK,4,30686,0 Average,6,15743,0.5 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $16 million. That figure was $39 million in NWPX's case. Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PHAS) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately NWPX wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on NWPX were disappointed as the stock returned 1.2% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is PolarityTE, Inc. (PTE) A Good Stock To Buy ? Reputable billionaire investors such as Jim Simons, Cliff Asness and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won't accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point. PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE)investors should pay attention to a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently. Our calculations also showed that PTE isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to take a gander at the key hedge fund action regarding PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE). At Q1's end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -23% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 3 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PTE a year ago. With the smart money's capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions). The largest stake in PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE) was held byCastle Hook Partners, which reported holding $11.4 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by DSAM Partners with a $11.3 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Ardsley Partners, Healthcor Management LP, and Millennium Management. Because PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE) has faced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it's easy to see that there was a specific group of funds that elected to cut their full holdings in the third quarter. Interestingly, Ari Zweiman's683 Capital Partnerssold off the largest position of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $9.2 million in stock, and James A. Silverman's Opaleye Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $5.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in the third quarter. Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE). These stocks are Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ:KMDA), MBT Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:MBTF), Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR), and Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFBI). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to PTE's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position KMDA,4,9017,1 MBTF,7,15340,2 ISTR,5,30928,0 PFBI,5,10156,1 Average,5.25,16360,1 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $16 million. That figure was $44 million in PTE's case. MBT Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:MBTF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ:KMDA) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks PolarityTE, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTE) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately PTE wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on PTE were disappointed as the stock returned -45% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (MRNS) A Good Stock To Buy? Although the masses and most of the financial media blame hedge funds for their exorbitant fee structure and disappointing performance, these investors have proved to have great stock picking abilities over the years (that's why their assets under management continue to swell). We believe hedge fund sentiment should serve as a crucial tool of an individual investor’s stock selection process, as it may offer great insights of how the brightest minds of the finance industry feel about specific stocks. After all, these people have access to smartest analysts and expensive data/information sources that individual investors can't match. So should one consider investing in Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MRNS )? The smart money sentiment can provide an answer to this question. Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MRNS ) was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. MRNS investors should be aware of a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with MRNS holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that MRNS isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds . Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 ( see the details here ). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. [caption id="attachment_758402" align="aligncenter" width="450"] William Leland Edwards of Palo Alto Investors William Leland Edwards of Palo Alto Investors[/caption] Let's review the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MRNS ). What have hedge funds been doing with Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS)? Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in MRNS over the last 15 quarters. With hedgies' positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions). Story continues MRNS_june2019 Among these funds, Granite Point Capital held the most valuable stake in Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS), which was worth $12.7 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was 683 Capital Partners which amassed $5.9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Granite Point Capital, Endurant Capital Management, and OrbiMed Advisors were also bullish on Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock. Since Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Christopher James's Partner Fund Management said goodbye to the largest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $1.5 million in stock, and Israel Englander's Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.9 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds last quarter. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS). These stocks are BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCBP ), Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (NYSE: MLP ), Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX ), and Select Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLCT ). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to MRNS's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BCBP,2,6458,-2 MLP,2,6544,0 ATHX,6,1491,1 SLCT,4,5603,0 Average,3.5,5024,-0.25 [/table] View table here if you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 3.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $5 million. That figure was $25 million in MRNS's case. Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCBP ) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately MRNS wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on MRNS were disappointed as the stock returned -1.9% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey . Related Content How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index View comments
Is Weibo Corp (WB) A Good Stock To Buy? Hedge funds run by legendary names like George Soros and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant outperformance. That's why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks. Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB)was in 13 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. WB shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with WB positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that WB isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter. Let's review the new hedge fund action surrounding Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -24% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards WB over the last 15 quarters. So, let's find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB) was held byPlatinum Asset Management, which reported holding $171.6 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by Fisher Asset Management with a $161.5 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Citadel Investment Group, Renaissance Technologies, and Oaktree Capital Management. Due to the fact that Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it's safe to say that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Yi Xin'sAriose Capitalcut the largest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $4.6 million in stock, and Deepak Gulati's Argentiere Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $2.9 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds by the end of the third quarter. Let's now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB). These stocks are MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), and Rollins, Inc. (NYSE:ROL). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to WB's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position MGM,45,1756675,-1 IFF,16,188308,-5 MRO,37,732698,0 ROL,20,286732,-2 Average,29.5,741103,-2 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 29.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $741 million. That figure was $449 million in WB's case. MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB) is even less popular than IFF. Hedge funds dodged a bullet by taking a bearish stance towards WB. Our calculations showed that the top 20 most popular hedge fund stocks returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately WB wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was very bearish); WB investors were disappointed as the stock returned -31.9% during the same time frame and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market so far in the second quarter. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Is W.P. Carey Inc. (WPC) A Good Stock To Buy ? You probably know from experience that there is not as much information on small-cap companies as there is on large companies. Of course, this makes it really hard and difficult for individual investors to make proper and accurate analysis of certain small-cap companies. However, well-known and successful hedge fund managers like Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Seth Klarman hold the necessary resources and abilities to conduct an extensive stock analysis on small-cap stocks, which enable them to make millions of dollars by identifying potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks. This represents the main reason why Insider Monkey takes notice of the hedge fund activity in these overlooked stocks. W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)has seen an increase in hedge fund interest of late.WPCwas in 13 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with WPC holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that WPC isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Hedge funds' reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn't keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. Let's check out the recent hedge fund action surrounding W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC). Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 30% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards WPC over the last 15 quarters. So, let's examine which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorshas the most valuable position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC), worth close to $20.7 million, corresponding to 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second isRenaissance Technologies, led by Jim Simons, holding a $11.7 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other professional money managers that are bullish comprise Jeffrey Hinkle'sShoals Capital Management, Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Groupand Ken Griffin'sCitadel Investment Group. As aggregate interest increased, key money managers have been driving this bullishness.Shoals Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Hinkle, established the biggest position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC). Shoals Capital Management had $7.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle'sSpringbok Capitalalso initiated a $2.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are D. E. Shaw'sD E Shaw, Michael Platt and William Reeves'sBlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and Andre F. Perold'sHighVista Strategies. Let's also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR), Teck Resources Ltd (NYSE:TECK), CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL), and ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD). This group of stocks' market values match WPC's market value. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position EXR,17,162191,-7 TECK,27,1078134,1 CTL,32,1095768,1 ABMD,33,1188513,2 Average,27.25,881152,-0.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 27.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $881 million. That figure was $55 million in WPC's case. ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Extra Space Storage, Inc. (NYSE:EXR) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) is even less popular than EXR. Hedge funds clearly dropped the ball on WPC as the stock delivered strong returns, though hedge funds' consensus picks still generated respectable returns. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on WPC as the stock returned 9.3% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Hedge Funds Have Never Been This Bullish On Pyxus International, Inc. (PYX) The market has been volatile in the last 6 months as the Federal Reserve continued its rate hikes and then abruptly reversed its stance and uncertainty looms over trade negotiations with China. Small cap stocks have been hit hard as a result, as the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 9 percentage points. SEC filings and hedge fund investor letters indicate that the smart money seems to be paring back their overall long exposure since summer months, though some funds increased their exposure dramatically at the end of Q4 and the beginning of Q1. In this article, we analyze what the smart money thinks of Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX) and find out how it is affected by hedge funds' moves. Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX)has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest of late. Our calculations also showed that PYX isn't among the30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds' large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that'll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 30.9% through May 30, 2019. That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. [caption id="attachment_746893" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Paul Marshall of Marshall Wace[/caption] We're going to analyze the recent hedge fund action encompassing Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 67% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 0 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in PYX a year ago. So, let's review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves. The largest stake in Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX) was held byAQR Capital Management, which reported holding $6.5 million worth of stock at the end of March. It was followed by OZ Management with a $4.6 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Citadel Investment Group, Marshall Wace LLP, and D E Shaw. As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX) headfirst.Marshall Wace LLP, managed by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, created the most outsized position in Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX). Marshall Wace LLP had $1.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel'sTwo Sigma Advisorsalso made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new PYX positions are Joel Greenblatt'sGotham Asset Management, Israel Englander'sMillennium Management, and Matthew Hulsizer'sPEAK6 Capital Management. Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE:GNE), The Joint Corp. (NASDAQ:JYNT), Stratus Properties Inc. (NASDAQ:STRS), and First Bank (NASDAQ:FRBA). This group of stocks' market caps are similar to PYX's market cap. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position GNE,9,8601,-2 JYNT,9,51071,3 STRS,3,32568,-1 FRBA,3,5888,-1 Average,6,24532,-0.25 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $25 million. That figure was $17 million in PYX's case. Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE:GNE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Stratus Properties Inc. (NASDAQ:STRS) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Pyxus International, Inc. (NYSE:PYX) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Unfortunately PYX wasn't nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on PYX were disappointed as the stock returned -39.8% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out thetop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Did Hedge Funds Drop The Ball On Molecular Templates, Inc. (MTEM) ? The first quarter was a breeze as Powell pivoted, and China seemed eager to reach a deal with Trump. Both the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 delivered very strong gains as a result, with the Russell 2000, which is composed of smaller companies, outperforming the large-cap stocks slightly during the first quarter. Unfortunately sentiment shifted in May as this time China pivoted and Trump put more pressure on China by increasing tariffs. Hedge funds' top 20 stock picks performed spectacularly in this volatile environment. These stocks delivered a total gain of 18.7% through May 30th, vs. a gain of 12.1% for the S&P 500 ETF. In this article we will look at how this market volatility affected the sentiment of hedge funds towards Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM), and what that likely means for the prospects of the company and its stock. Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM)shares haven't seen a lot of action during the first quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 10 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of March. At the end of this article we will also compare MTEM to other stocks including The Bank of Princeton (NASDAQ:BPRN), THL Credit, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRD), and Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDA) to get a better sense of its popularity. In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey's flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That's why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. We're going to check out the fresh hedge fund action regarding Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM). At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 0% from the fourth quarter of 2018. By comparison, 8 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MTEM a year ago. With hedge funds' capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions). More specifically,Biotechnology Value Fund / BVF Incwas the largest shareholder of Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM), with a stake worth $20.8 million reported as of the end of March. Trailing Biotechnology Value Fund / BVF Inc was Perceptive Advisors, which amassed a stake valued at $11.5 million. Kingdon Capital, Sectoral Asset Management, and Prosight Capital were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios. Since Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM) has experienced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers who sold off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, David Lohman'sDiag Capitalcut the biggest stake of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $1 million in stock. Ken Griffin's fund,Citadel Investment Group, also dropped its stock, about $0 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience). Let's check out hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at The Bank of Princeton (NASDAQ:BPRN), THL Credit, Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRD), Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDA), and Global Water Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:GWRS). This group of stocks' market valuations match MTEM's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BPRN,3,16404,-1 TCRD,6,22612,1 LQDA,11,28517,8 GWRS,6,9879,-1 Average,6.5,19353,1.75 [/table] View table hereif you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 6.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $19 million. That figure was $42 million in MTEM's case. Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The Bank of Princeton (NASDAQ:BPRN) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Molecular Templates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTEM) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed thattop 20 most popular stocksamong hedge funds returned 6.2% in Q2 through June 19th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by nearly 3 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MTEM as the stock returned 38.7% during the same period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published atInsider Monkey. Related Content • How to Best Use Insider Monkey To Increase Your Returns • Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top Dividend Stock Picks • 30 Stocks Billionaires Are Crazy About: Insider Monkey Billionaire Stock Index
Does Market Volatility Impact Iluka Resources Limited's (ASX:ILU) Share Price? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Anyone researching Iluka Resources Limited (ASX:ILU) might want to consider the historical volatility of the share price. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market. Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk', beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price. See our latest analysis for Iluka Resources Given that it has a beta of 1.16, we can surmise that the Iluka Resources share price has been fairly sensitive to market volatility (over the last 5 years). If this beta value holds true in the future, Iluka Resources shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether Iluka Resources is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below. Iluka Resources is a fairly large company. It has a market capitalisation of AU$4.5b, which means it is probably on the radar of most investors. It has a relatively high beta, suggesting it may be somehow leveraged to macroeconomic conditions. For example, it might be a high growth stock with lots of investors trading the shares. It's notable when large companies to have high beta values, because it usually takes substantial capital flows to move their share prices. Since Iluka Resources tends to moves up when the market is going up, and down when it's going down, potential investors may wish to reflect on the overall market, when considering the stock. In order to fully understand whether ILU is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Iluka Resources’s financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following: 1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ILU’s future growth? Take a look at ourfree research report of analyst consensusfor ILU’s outlook. 2. Past Track Record: Has ILU been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look atthe free visual representations of ILU's historicalsfor more clarity. 3. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how ILU measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with thisfree list of prospective options. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
An Intrinsic Calculation For Pacific Smiles Group Limited (ASX:PSQ) Suggests It's 36% Undervalued Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Pacific Smiles Group Limited (ASX:PSQ) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will be using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in theSimply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Pacific Smiles Group We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate: [{"": "Levered FCF (A$, Millions)", "2019": "A$2.80", "2020": "A$10.00", "2021": "A$11.60", "2022": "A$12.88", "2023": "A$13.97", "2024": "A$14.89", "2025": "A$15.69", "2026": "A$16.38", "2027": "A$17.00", "2028": "A$17.57"}, {"": "Growth Rate Estimate Source", "2019": "Analyst x1", "2020": "Analyst x1", "2021": "Analyst x1", "2022": "Est @ 11.07%", "2023": "Est @ 8.44%", "2024": "Est @ 6.6%", "2025": "Est @ 5.32%", "2026": "Est @ 4.42%", "2027": "Est @ 3.78%", "2028": "Est @ 3.34%"}, {"": "Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.08%", "2019": "A$2.61", "2020": "A$8.72", "2021": "A$9.45", "2022": "A$9.80", "2023": "A$9.92", "2024": "A$9.88", "2025": "A$9.72", "2026": "A$9.48", "2027": "A$9.18", "2028": "A$8.86"}] Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= A$87.63m "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 2.3%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.1%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2029× (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = AU$18m × (1 + 2.3%) ÷ (7.1% – 2.3%) = AU$377m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= A$AU$377m ÷ ( 1 + 7.1%)10= A$190.20m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is A$277.83m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding.This results in an intrinsic value estimate of A$1.83. Compared to the current share price of A$1.17, the company appears quite good value at a 36% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Pacific Smiles Group as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Pacific Smiles Group, I've put together three fundamental aspects you should further research: 1. Financial Health: Does PSQ have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Future Earnings: How does PSQ's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with ourfree analyst growth expectation chart. 3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of PSQ? Exploreour interactive list of high quality stocksto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the ASX every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks justsearch here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Is Amazon Wasting Money on Original Films? Creating a box office hit isn't easy. Even though the most recent film fromAmazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)--Late Night --received positive reviews, the box office sales didn't match up. The film has grossed less than $20 million domestically, and it's unlikely to see much more after the sparse turnout in its opening weekends. Amazon spent $13 million for the rights toLate Nightand another $33 million or so marketing the film. As of this writing, that makesLate Nighta significant money loser for Amazon. And it's just the most recent in a string of losers since Amazon had success withThe Big Sick. Image source: Amazon. While Amazon is pouring millions of dollars into these films, it's also spending heavily on improving its logistics network and speeding up shipping for Prime members. After all, that's why consumers subscribe to Prime:fast shipping. That raises the question of whether or not Amazon should continue investing in films and instead focus its efforts on other Prime benefits. WhileLate Nightwas struggling to attract an audience in theaters,Netflix(NASDAQ: NFLX)saidMurder Mystery-- its latest Adam Sandler film -- garnered nearly 31 million unique viewers in its "opening weekend." That's a record for a Netflix original. Meanwhile, critics panned the film. And ifMurder Mysterysaw a theatrical release, it also would've likely struggled to draw ticket buyers going up againstToy Story 4,Men in Black International,Aladdin, and huge box office releases. Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson might not have quite the same draw as Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, but they still hold considerable comedic star power. And indie comedyBooksmarthas also struggled to sell tickets despite near-universal acclaim. Maybe Netflix knows something everyone else doesn't. A successful film doesn't necessarily mean it'll sell tickets at the box office. Amazon might have lost a lot of money onLate Nightand pretty much every other film it's distributed over the last two years, but that doesn't mean those films don't add value to Prime Instant Video when the service starts offering them. If Amazon's films are often more valuable on its streaming service than they are in movie theaters, why doesn't Amazon release them straight to Prime Video? Netflix champions its day-and-date release for nearly all of its films. Only a select few Oscar contenders get the big-screen treatment. For Amazon, there's relatively little cost but significant upside. Unlike Netflix, Amazon doesn't rely on its video content to drive Prime subscriptions. Video helps keep Prime members engaged -- which is increasingly important after it started offering a monthly plan -- but it's not the main reason people sign up. Consumers sign up for Netflix to stream movies and TV series, so short theatrical windows produce a lot more value for Netflix than they would for Amazon. Releasing a movie to theaters gives Amazon the opportunity to bring films to its streaming service having potentially already made a profit. While it has to spend more on marketing, executives believe the net costs will be smaller by distributing the films to theaters. Additionally, films with theatrical runs might be perceived more positively than those that go straight to streaming, even if the box office performance was subpar. Overall, the amount Amazon is spending on its original films and their marketing is relatively small compared with the massive investments it pours into shipping. It's proportionate with the value Prime members put on each benefit of the service. And while Amazon is losing money on most of its releases as measured by ticket sales, it's worth pointing out Netflix is "losing money" on its films, too, with its minimal box office runs. Amazon investors shouldn't get too worried over yet another disappointing weekend at the movies. Relax, order some popcorn from Amazon.com, and wait forLate Nightto come to Prime Video. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Adam Levyowns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Netflix. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
What Are Analysts Saying About Luk Fook Holdings (International) Limited's (HKG:590) Future? Want to participate in ashort research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card! As Luk Fook Holdings (International) Limited (HKG:590) announced its earnings release on 31 March 2019, it seems that analyst forecasts are fairly optimistic, with profits predicted to increase by 5.2% next year relative to the past 5-year average growth rate of -4.9%. With trailing-twelve-month net income at current levels of HK$1.5b, we should see this rise to HK$1.6b in 2020. I will provide a brief commentary around the figures and analyst expectations in the near term. For those keen to understand more about other aspects of the company, you canresearch its fundamentals here. Check out our latest analysis for Luk Fook Holdings (International) The longer term view from the 12 analysts covering 590 is one of positive sentiment. Since forecasting becomes more difficult further into the future, broker analysts generally project out to around three years. I've plotted out each year's earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to calculate an annual growth rate from the slope in order to understand the overall trajectory of 590's earnings growth over these next few years. By 2022, 590's earnings should reach HK$1.8b, from current levels of HK$1.5b, resulting in an annual growth rate of 5.9%. EPS reaches HK$2.93 in the final year of forecast compared to the current HK$2.54 EPS today. With a current profit margin of 9.4%, this movement will result in a margin of 9.8% by 2022. Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For Luk Fook Holdings (International), I've put together three pertinent factors you should further examine: 1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at ourfree balance sheet analysis with six simple checkson key factors like leverage and risk. 2. Valuation: What is Luk Fook Holdings (International) worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? Theintrinsic value infographic in our free research reporthelps visualize whether Luk Fook Holdings (International) is currently mispriced by the market. 3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Luk Fook Holdings (International)? Exploreour interactive list of stocks with large growth potentialto get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor ateditorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Why You Might Not Want to Pay Off Your Student Loans Early Owing money on student loans can feel like a major financial burden. After all, you have to send money to lenders each month and tons of debt shows up on your credit report. While you may be tempted to get rid of your student debt ASAP by making extra payments and throwing as much cash at it as you can, this may not actually be the best financial decision. In fact, there are a few key reasons why paying off your student loans early might be a bad idea indeed. Here are four of them. Image source: Getty Images. With most types of debt, lenders don't really care if you're facing financial hardship -- you have to pay back what you owe on schedule. And you can't just change your payment plan to reduce your payment so it matches your income, nor can you expect to get some of your debt forgiven if you do work that serves the public. If you have federal student loan debt, on the other hand, there are unmatched borrower protections available to you. Depending on your situation, these borrower protections include: • Eligibility to get loans forgiven if you work in public service and make 120 on-time payments • The option to put loans into forbearance or deferment, and pause payments if you go back to school, are unemployed, serve in the military, join the Peace Corps, or meet other qualifying requirements • The ability to change repayment plans and pick a plan that caps payments at a percentage of income The government may even subsidize interest on some of your loans during periods when payments are deferred. Putting extra money toward paying down loans with all these borrower protections rarely makes sense. After all, if you could pay a small percentage of your income for 10 years and get the rest of your loans forgiven because you work for the government or a nonprofit, why pay off your loans early? Often, federal student loans -- and even many student loans from private lenders -- have lower interest rates than other kinds of debt. The interest rate on student loans is typically well below the typical interest rate on a credit card, for example. And, it may even be below the rate you could qualify for on a personal loan. If you have any debt at a higher interest rate, it makes sense to focus on paying off that other debt before paying anything extra on student loans. And, if paying extra on student loans may put you at risk of getting into other, more expensive kinds of debt, you also shouldn't do it. If you have noemergency fund, you're vulnerable to falling into credit card debt if something goes wrong. You'd likely be better off saving up an emergency fund, rather than making extra student debt payments, so you don't end carrying a balance on a card at a high-interest rate. When you pay off student loans early, the return on investment you get on your extra payments equals the interest rate of your loans. Chances are good you could probably earn a better return by putting your money into the stock market instead. Why devote extra cash to student loans when you could get more bang for your buck by investing that money instead? This is especially true if you could invest in a 401(k) to earn an employer match (free money) with your cash. With a dollar-for-dollar match, your guaranteed return is 100%, clearly well above the interest rate you'd pay on any kind of student loan. You can also score tax breaks by investing in a401(k)orIRA. The tax deduction you get from retirement contributions reduces your taxable income. This guaranteed tax savings further boosts the chances you'll get a better return on your money by investing it rather than using it to pay off student loans early. Of course, if your student loans are private loans and you're paying a high rate -- near 7% or 8% -- this changes the calculation. You'll still want to max out a 401(k) to get the employer match. But once you've done that, it may make more sense to pay extra on student loan debt and get this guaranteed return than to take a chance on whether you could actually beat that rate by investing. When you pay interest on qualifying student loans, you're allowed to take a tax deduction for up to $2,500 of that interest. This deduction doesn't require you to itemize to claim it, though your modified adjusted gross income needs to be below $70,000 if you file as single, head of household, or qualified widower. The deduction begins phasing out with a higher income. If you hit $85,000 in income with these filing statuses, you lose your deduction entirely. And if you file as married filing jointly, you'll begin to lose the deduction at $140,000 in income and lose it entirely once your household income reaches $170,000. The tax deduction for student debt reduces the costs of the interest you're paying so it's not a good idea to put extra money toward student loans rather than paying higher interest debt (which usually doesn't have tax-deductible interest) or investing (especially if you score investing tax breaks). If you have private student loans, rather than federal student loans, there's a stronger argument to be made for paying off your student debt early. After all, you don't get all the borrower protections available with federal aid and your loans may be at a higher rate than federal student debt. But you still need to consider the opportunity cost -- including the lost tax break and the lost opportunity to do something more lucrative with your cash. By carefully considering all of your options for how to use your money, you can decide if paying off your student debt early is the best use of spare cash or if the funds would be better used elsewhere, such as to invest for your future. Only after taking this step should you decide paying off your student debt is the right choice for you. More From The Motley Fool • 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today • The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss • 20 of the Top Stocks to Buy (Including the Two Every Investor Should Own) • What Is an ETF? • 5 Recession-Proof Stocks • How to Beat the Market The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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