We can judge whether Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) is a good investment right now by following the lead of some of the best investors in the world and piggybacking their ideas. There’s no better way to get these firms’ immense resources and analytical capabilities working for us than to follow their lead into their best ideas. While not all of these picks will be winners, our research shows that these picks historically outperformed the market when we factor in known risk factors.
Is Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) the right investment to pursue these days? The smart money is in a bullish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund positions rose by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that KE isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings). KE was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2019. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with KE holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To most traders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, outdated financial tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, We hone in on the crème de la crème of this group, approximately 750 funds. These investment experts shepherd the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping an eye on their top investments, Insider Monkey has found a number of investment strategies that have historically outrun the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. We’re going to go over the new hedge fund action surrounding Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE).
What have hedge funds been doing with Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from one quarter earlier. By comparison, 9 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in KE a year ago. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
The largest stake in Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) was held by Royce & Associates, which reported holding $7.3 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Renaissance Technologies with a $6.4 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Ancora Advisors, D E Shaw, and Citadel Investment Group. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Zebra Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE), around 0.26% of its 13F portfolio. Algert Coldiron Investors is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.11 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to KE.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have jumped into Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) headfirst. Springbok Capital, managed by Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle, established the most outsized position in Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE). Springbok Capital had $0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) but similarly valued. These stocks are Golden Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:GDEN), Tuniu Corporation (NASDAQ:TOUR), Intelligent Systems Corporation (NYSE:INS), and Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to KE’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| GDEN | 12 | 75579 | 1 |
| TOUR | 3 | 21391 | -1 |
| INS | 7 | 99921 | 0 |
| SGRY | 12 | 31532 | 1 |
| Average | 8.5 | 57106 | 0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $57 million. That figure was $20 million in KE’s case. Golden Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:GDEN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Tuniu Corporation (NASDAQ:TOUR) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Kimball Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:KE) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on KE as the stock returned 20.9% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
