Billionaire hedge fund managers such as 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.
Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) shareholders have witnessed an increase in support from the world’s most successful money managers lately. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with VPG holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare VPG to other stocks including Veracyte Inc (NASDAQ:VCYT), Flex Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:FLKS), and Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Vishay Precision Group Inc. (NYSE:VPG)
Follow Vishay Precision Group Inc. (NYSE:VPG)
At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.
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With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action encompassing Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG).
What does the smart money think about Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 22% from the second quarter of 2016. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards VPG over the last 5 quarters. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to Insider Monkey’s elite fund database, Nokomis Capital, led by Brett Hendrickson, holds the biggest position in Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG). Nokomis Capital has a $29.2 million position in the stock, comprising 6.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Nokomis Capital’s heels is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $11 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions include Renaissance Technologies, one of the biggest hedge funds in the world, and Jeffrey Moskowitz’s Harvey Partners. We should note that Harvey Partners is among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) headfirst. Litespeed Management, led by Jamie Zimmerman, initiated the most valuable position in Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG). Litespeed Management had $6.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Arnaud Ajdler’s Engine Capital also initiated a $0.7 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Veracyte Inc (NASDAQ:VCYT), Flex Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:FLKS), Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX), and DRDGOLD Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:DRD). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to VPG’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| VCYT | 8 | 17593 | 1 |
| FLKS | 4 | 1968 | -3 |
| BBOX | 10 | 17647 | 1 |
| DRD | 6 | 12883 | 2 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $13 million. That figure was $62 million in VPG’s case. Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Flex Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:FLKS) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Vishay Precision Group Inc (NYSE:VPG) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
