Is bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) a worthy investment right now? Hedge funds are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets decreased by 2 recently.
In today’s marketplace, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to analyze publicly traded companies. A pair of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers know where to look (learn more here).
Now, let’s take a glance at the recent action encompassing bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE).
Hedge fund activity in bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE)
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -20% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE), worth close to $5 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $3.9 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management.
Seeing as bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q2. Intriguingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw dumped the largest investment of all the hedgies we track, valued at about $0.7 million in stock., and John Overdeck and David Siegel of Two Sigma Advisors was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds heading into Q2.
Insider trading activity in bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE)
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE). These stocks are The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSL), Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCVL), Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST), Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT), and Tilly’s Inc (NYSE:TLYS). This group of stocks are in the apparel stores industry and their market caps resemble BEBE’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The Wet Seal, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSL) | 12 | 1 | 0 |
| Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCVL) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST) | 12 | 0 | 4 |
| Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Tilly’s Inc (NYSE:TLYS) | 4 | 5 | 1 |
With the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) is an important part of this process.
