Hedge Funds Are Buying Churchill Downs, Inc. (CHDN)

Reputable billionaire investors such as Nelson Peltz and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won’t accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point.

Is Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN) the right pick for your portfolio? Investors who are in the know are taking an optimistic view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions rose by 3 in recent months. At the end of this article we will also compare CHDN to other stocks including HNI Corp (NYSE:HNI), Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRZO), and Kosmos Energy Ltd (NYSE:KOS) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action encompassing Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN).

What have hedge funds been doing with Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, up 19% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management has the largest position in Churchill Downs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDN), worth close to $207.6 million and comprising 3% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Three Bays Capital, managed by Matthew Sidman, which holds a $194.9 million position; 12.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism encompass Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors and George Soros’s Soros Fund Management.