Insider Monkey keeps its eyes on hedge fund managers as they’re the smartest investors around. They take into account risk as well as potential returns when making decisions. They evaluate the intrinsic value stocks with well functional models and strategies. They utilize massive ways of research and data resources to follow and forecast the trends. Thus we believe individuals are more likely to beat the market by imitating insiders and hedge funds than trading against them. Insider Monkey tracks nearly 350 hedge funds. We present a list of top apparel stocks that hedge funds were holding in their portfolios at the end of second quarter:
Here’s a brief rundown of the top 15 stocks:
1. Coach, Inc. (COH):Coach acts as the No. 1 luxury accessories brand and is the most favored apparel stock. Twenty-nine hedge funds among our 350 track list owned it in Q2. Although Coach shows a -1.46% year to date (YTD) return, it still significantly beat the SPY loss of 6.38%. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, the largest owner of Coach, increased their position by 88% in Q2, making their current position more than 6 million shares.
2. Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL): Twenty-three hedge funds held Polo Ralph Lauren in their accounts in Q2. The Polo Ralph Lauren brand generates more than $12 billion in the apparel retail industry and has returned 18.4% YTD. Among the hedge funds we track, the biggest owner is Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, which held 4 million shares of RL at the end of Q2. That’s a 14% increase in position from the previous quarter.
3. Quiksilver, Inc. (ZQK): Quiksilver, which had a loss of 27.44% YTD, was in the portfolios of 21 hedge funds in Q2. Patrick Mccormack’s Tiger Consumer Management, as the biggest owner last quarter, had increased their position by 4% of and held more than 3 million shares in Q2.
4. Lululemon Athletica inc. (LULU): Ranked as the 4th most popular apparel stock, apparel super star LULU, soared by 48.5% since January. Impressed by LULU’s superb performance, 18 hedge funds had the stock in Q2 and several of them adjusted their positions like crazy. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which was the largest owner of LULU, increase its holding by 328%, with more than 1 million shares at the end of June (Jim Simons).
5. Carter’s, Inc.(CRI): Although Carter returned only 1.4% YTD, the stock performed remarkably in Q2. Eighteen hedge funds initiated CRI positions in that period. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had 3.7 million shares in their portfolio, increasing their stake by 15% from Q1.
6. Liz Claiborne, Inc.(LIZ): LIZ has declined 25.3% since January 2011. Showing little recovery signal, the poor performance caused most hedge funds to reconsider their holdings. Among 18 hedge funds that owned LIZ in Q2, several of them largely reduced their positions. Glenn J. Krevlin’s Glenhill Advisors, the biggest owner of LIZ, still held around 3.3 million shares unchanged.
7. PVH Corp.(PVH): PVH has returned -1.16% YTD. The stock was owned by 16 hedge funds. The biggest holder was Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, which increased 118% of its position and had 1.4 million shares by the end of June.
8. Guess?, Inc.(GES): GES lost -33% YTD. Approximately two thirds of the loss happened in Q3, while the rest was mainly from Q2. GES was in the portfolios of 16 hedge funds at the end of June. Royce & Associates took 2.27 million shares, which accounted for 40% of all shares held by hedge funds in the market. The data was after the 81% increase in their position during Q2.
9. Under Armour, Inc. (UA): Under Armour was held by 15 hedge funds and the stock has risen 21.22% YTD. Although it fluctuated more than 20% in Q2, the stock price still kept high enough. Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus Capital increased their position by 104% and became the biggest owner.
10. Jones Group, Inc. (JNY): Tumbling since January, JNY has lost 33.16% YTD. The stock declined more than 20% in Q2. Fifteen hedge funds retained JNY in their portfolios. Ron Gutfleish’s Elm Ridge Capital had more shares than others, and at the end of June the firm possessed 2.5 million shares.