In this article we will take a look at whether hedge funds think Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) is a good investment right now. We check hedge fund and billionaire investor sentiment before delving into hours of research. Hedge funds spend millions of dollars on Ivy League graduates, unconventional data sources, expert networks, and get tips from investment bankers and industry insiders. Sure they sometimes fail miserably, but their consensus stock picks historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk factors.
Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020. VICR has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with VICR positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that VICR isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
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Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group
At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, blockchain technology’s influence will go beyond online payments. So, we are checking out this futurist’s moonshot opportunities in tech stocks. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. For example we are checking out stocks recommended/scorned by legendary Bill Miller. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 in February after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind let’s go over the recent hedge fund action regarding Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR).
What does smart money think about Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 17% from the fourth quarter of 2019. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in VICR over the last 18 quarters. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Driehaus Capital held the most valuable stake in Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR), which was worth $11.6 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Manatuck Hill Partners which amassed $6.9 million worth of shares. Trellus Management Company, PEAK6 Capital Management, and Portolan Capital Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Trellus Management Company allocated the biggest weight to Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR), around 10.38% of its 13F portfolio. Manatuck Hill Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 6.34 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to VICR.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have jumped into Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) headfirst. Trellus Management Company, managed by Adam Usdan, initiated the most valuable position in Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR). Trellus Management Company had $5.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $1 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new VICR positions are Josh Goldberg’s G2 Investment Partners Management, Dipak Patel’s Alight Capital, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI), Graham Holdings Co (NYSE:GHC), SmileDirectClub, Inc. (NASDAQ:SDC), and Dorman Products Inc. (NASDAQ:DORM). All of these stocks’ market caps match VICR’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| NNI | 13 | 81943 | -1 |
| GHC | 21 | 283866 | 3 |
| SDC | 20 | 65952 | 0 |
| DORM | 14 | 40202 | 1 |
| Average | 17 | 117991 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $118 million. That figure was $32 million in VICR’s case. Graham Holdings Co (NYSE:GHC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Nelnet, Inc. (NYSE:NNI) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Vicor Corp (NASDAQ:VICR) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.3% in 2020 through June 25th and still beat the market by 16.8 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on VICR as the stock returned 57.4% during the second quarter and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
