Is Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI) a safe investment today? Prominent investors are becoming more confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions went up by 5 lately.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many indicators market participants can use to analyze the equity markets. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the market by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of incentives for a corporate insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the latest action encompassing Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI).
What does the smart money think about Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI)?
Heading into Q2, a total of 24 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 26% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, John Shapiro’s Chieftain Capital had the most valuable position in Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI), worth close to $112.7 million, accounting for 8% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, which held a $48.6 million position; the fund has 1.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital, Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital and Robert Bishop’s Impala Asset Management.
As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Chieftain Capital, managed by John Shapiro, established the largest position in Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI). Chieftain Capital had 112.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital also initiated a $45.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Glenn J. Krevlin’s Glenhill Advisors, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.
Insider trading activity in Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI)
Bullish insider trading is best served when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time frame, Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI) has experienced 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI). These stocks are PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH), Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE:CRI), Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), and Gildan Activewear Inc (USA) (NYSE:GIL). All of these stocks are in the textile – apparel clothing industry and their market caps are closest to HBI’s market cap.
