3 3D Systems Corporation (DDD) Metrics To Be Aware Of

In the financial blogosphere, there are a multitude of metrics for 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) readers to watch, but it’s useful to be aware of a company’s shorts. Some metrics we can use are: (a) the fraction of a company’s tradable shares that bears are currently shorting, in addition to (b) the difference in short interest.

Heightened shorting usually means what you’d think: the Street has become less fond of that particular stock. Short selling that’s too high, however, sometimes has a bullish effect on stock price, as short sellers may be forced to buy their positions.

Within Insider Monkey, it’s no secret that we pay attention to hedge funds’ interest, but it’s eqaully as important to pair this information with overall short sale information. In some high-profile cases, big time players may indicate that they’re bearish on a company, but it is not an SEC requirement. Nevertheless, many individual players may want to avoid heavily short sold stocks with high hedge fund interest, while others may prefer short-squeeze candidates. For traders searching for a market-beating piggybacking strategy, discover the details of our premium strategy.

With that in mind, let’s take a glance at the latest data surrounding 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD).

Analyzing the most recent FINRA short interest data, which is reported twice every month, we can see that 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) has a short interest of 31.10% of float. This indicates a -2% change from the prior month. With a float of 86.29M shares, this reveals a short ratio of 4.70.

It is also crucial to take note of hedge fund sentiment via their 13F filings. Of the funds we track, Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC had the most valuable position in 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD), worth close to $77.8 million, comprising 1.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which held a $15.7 million call position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Christopher Lord’s Criterion Capital and Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management.

Also, insider buying is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over activity in other stocks similar to 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD). These stocks are Babcock & Wilcox Co (NYSE:BWC), Crane Co. (NYSE:CR), Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII), Sauer-Danfoss Inc. (NYSE:SHS), and The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD). All of these stocks are in the diversified machinery industry and their market caps match DDD’s market cap.

The aforementioned metrics–short interest info, hedge fund holdings and insiders’ behavior–are what every investor should track. Though it’s hard to formulate a usable strategy from short interest data, the latter two provide plenty of market beating opportunities if you know where to look.