You probably know from experience that there is not as much information on small-cap companies as there is on large companies. Of course, this makes it really hard and difficult for individual investors to make proper and accurate analysis of certain small-cap companies. However, well-known and successful hedge fund investors like Carl Icahn and George Soros hold the necessary resources and abilities to conduct an extensive stock analysis on small-cap stocks, which enable them to make millions of dollars by identifying potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks. This represents the main reason why Insider Monkey takes notice of the hedge fund activity in these overlooked stocks.
NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) has experienced an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. NCR was in 27 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with NCR holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare NCR to other stocks including WEX Inc (NYSE:WEX), Corelogic Inc (NYSE:CLGX), and Cabelas Inc (NYSE:CAB) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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How are hedge funds trading NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 27 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a gain of 23% from the second quarter of 2016. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management has the largest position in NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR), worth close to $80.7 million. On Iridian Asset Management’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $40.6 million position. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish contain Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and Marc Majzner’s Clearline Capital.
Now, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Point72 Asset Management, managed by Steve Cohen, initiated the most valuable position in NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR). Point72 Asset Management had $4.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group also initiated a $3.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new NCR investors: Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Joshua Packwood and Schuster Tanger’s Radix Partners.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR). We will take a look at WEX Inc (NYSE:WEX), Corelogic Inc (NYSE:CLGX), Cabelas Inc (NYSE:CAB), and Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to NCR’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WEX | 10 | 171447 | -1 |
| CLGX | 19 | 387224 | -3 |
| CAB | 34 | 961197 | 7 |
| TDY | 13 | 125132 | 3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $411 million. That figure was $245 million in NCR’s case. Cabelas Inc (NYSE:CAB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand WEX Inc (NYSE:WEX) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CAB might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None
