Hedge Funds Are Buying DISH Network Corp. (DISH)

Hedge funds and other investment firms run by legendary investors like Israel Englander and Ray Dalio are entrusted to manage billions of dollars of accredited investors’ money because they are without peer in the resources they use to identify the best investments for their chosen investment horizon. Moreover, they are more willing to invest a greater amount of their resources in small-cap stocks than big brokerage houses, and this is often where they generate their outperformance, which is why we pay particular attention to their best ideas in this space.

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund interest of late. DISH was in 57 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September, versus 52 funds a quarter earlier. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY), and Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) to gather more data points.

At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.

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With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the key action regarding DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH).

Hedge fund activity in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 57 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 10% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Eagle Capital Management, managed by Boykin Curry, holds the most valuable position in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH). Eagle Capital Management has a $930.9 million position in the stock, comprising 4% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Tourbillon Capital Partners, managed by Jason Karp, which holds a $224.9 million position; 4.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Now, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Ascend Capital, managed by Malcolm Fairbairn, assembled the biggest position in DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH). Ascend Capital had $39.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also made a $11 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Solomon Kumin’s Folger Hill Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Tom Wagner and Ara Cohen’s Knighthead Capital.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) but similarly valued. We will take a look at VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY), Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV), and Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS). This group of stocks’ market valuations match DISH’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.44 billion. That figure was $2,96 billion in DISH’s case. Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ:FISV) is the least popular one with only 27 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.