A year ago, Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was known as the second fiddle in the 3D printing industry behind 3D Systems. Nowadays though, investors are paying just as much attention to the company and its innovative printers as the rest of its peers. So what do hedge funds think about Stratasys?
To the average investor, there are dozens of indicators shareholders can use to watch stocks. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can trounce the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see just how much).
Equally as integral, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. 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. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS).
What have hedge funds been doing with Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 25% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully.
According to our comprehensive database, Tiger Global Management LLC had the largest position in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS), worth close to $108.9 million, comprising 1.9% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $24.3 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining peers that are bullish include Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors and Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital.
Now, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Tiger Global Management LLC initiated the most valuable position in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). Tiger Global Management LLC had 108.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also made a $24.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management, Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors, and Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital.
What have insiders been doing with Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). These stocks are Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII), Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI), Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), and Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE). This group of stocks are the members of the computer peripherals industry and their market caps are similar to SSYS’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII) | 17 | 0 | 4 |
| Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI) | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) | 19 | 0 | 12 |
| Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL) | 9 | 1 | 1 |
| Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns shown by our research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) is no exception.
