Is North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA) a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 3 recently.
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Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action surrounding North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA).
What does the smart money think about North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 43% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.
As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Wexford Capital, managed by Charles Davidson, created the most valuable position in North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA). Wexford Capital had 0.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors also made a $0.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new NOA position is Gregory Fraser Rudolph Kluiber and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners.
Insider trading activity in North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA). These stocks are Dawson Geophysical Company (NASDAQ:DWSN), Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS), TGC Industries Inc (NASDAQ:TGE), Bolt Technology Corp. (NASDAQ:BOLT), and Cal Dive International, Inc. (NYSE:DVR). This group of stocks are in the oil & gas equipment & services industry and their market caps are similar to NOA’s market cap.
Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
Dawson Geophysical Company (NASDAQ:DWSN) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:NGS) | 4 | 0 | 2 |
TGC Industries Inc (NASDAQ:TGE) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
Bolt Technology Corp. (NASDAQ:BOLT) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Cal Dive International, Inc. (NYSE:DVR) | 10 | 1 | 0 |
With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned research, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and North American Energy Partners Inc.(USA) (NYSE:NOA) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.