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 September. At Insider Monkey, we follow over 700 of the best-performing investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter.
Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2018. MINI investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money lately. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with MINI positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that mini isn’t among the 30 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 6.3% year to date (through December 3rd) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 18 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 review the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).
What have hedge funds been doing with Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2018, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 18% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards MINI over the last 13 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 Management was the largest shareholder of Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), with a stake worth $26.2 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Fisher Asset Management was Royce & Associates, which amassed a stake valued at $11.3 million. Daruma Asset Management, D E Shaw, and Millennium Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Consequently, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Daruma Asset Management, managed by Mariko Gordon, initiated the most valuable position in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). Daruma Asset Management had $9.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MINI positions are Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, Brandon Haley’s Holocene Advisors, and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). We will take a look at Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:PBH), Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA), Select Income REIT (NASDAQ:SIR), and Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble MINI’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PBH | 14 | 99230 | 2 |
| SAIA | 15 | 72013 | 3 |
| SIR | 17 | 63631 | 5 |
| SCL | 10 | 48107 | 0 |
| Average | 14 | 70745 | 2.5 |
View table here if 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 $71 million. That figure was $55 million in MINI’s case. Select Income REIT (NASDAQ:SIR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) 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. In this regard SIR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
