The US initial public offering (IPO) market has been rather quiet during the second quarter. Uncertainty related to a potential interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve and to the UK’s Brexit vote have caused companies to delay their IPO plans to the third quarter. Nevertheless, there were a number of companies that decided to proceed despite everything. In this article, we’ll take a look at five post-IPO companies that hedge funds snapped up during the second quarter and see how they have fared since then.
We believe that imitating hedge funds and other large institutional investors can be helpful in identifying stocks capable of outperforming the broader market. Through extensive research that covered portfolios of several hundred large investors between 1999 and 2012, we determined that following the small-cap stocks that large money managers are collectively bullish on, can generate monthly returns nearly 1.0 percentage points above the market (see more details here).
Bets On Hospital Operator
Opening our top five is Quorum Health Corp (NYSE:QHC). At the end of the quarter, 17 of the funds followed by Insider Monkey had this stock in their equity portfolios, having amassed 30% of the company’s outstanding stock in aggregate. David Einhorn‘s Greenlight Capital had the largest position, having acquired 2.9 million shares worth a little over $31 million according to its latest 13F filing. David Tepper and Appaloosa Management are also betting on this stock, having disclosed ownership of 771,436 shares valued at $8.26 million. A spin-off from Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH), Quorum Health Corp (NYSE:QHC) owns and operates hospitals. Immediately after the IPO, the stock turned south and is currently down by 52%. For the second quarter, the company posted $529.7 million in revenue and a loss of $8.63 per share.
Follow Quorum Health Corp (NYSE:QHC)
Follow Quorum Health Corp (NYSE:QHC)
High Demand For Ingevity Corp
Next up is Ingevity Corp (NYSE:NGVT), a stock that could be found in the equity portfolio of 19 of the funds in our database. Howard Guberman and Sean Dany‘s Gruss Asset Management made a $40.8 million investment in this company, having reported ownership of exactly 1.2 million shares at the end of the quarter. Noah Levy and Eugene Dozortsev have also established a fresh position for their fund, Newtyn Management, having acquired 1.05 million shares reportedly worth $35.9 million. A manufacturer of specialty chemicals and high-performance carbon materials, Ingevity Corp (NYSE:NGVT) has enjoyed a nice rally since going public, with shares having appreciated by 82% through yesterday’s closing price of $41.95 per share. Analysts at KeyCorp initiated coverage of the stock at the beginning of July and assigned an ‘Overweight’ rating with a price target of $43 per share, which was already surpassed earlier this month. For the second quarter, Ingevity Corp (NYSE:NGVT) reported a 5% decline in net sales to $248.7 million and a profit of $25.8 million or $0.66 per share when adjusted for one-time costs.
Follow Ingevity Corp (NYSE:NGVT)
Follow Ingevity Corp (NYSE:NGVT)
Turn the page to find out which IPOs ranked on the first three spots among the investors we track.