Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC) – Alamo Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALG), Lindsay Corporation (NYSE:LNN)

Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC) shareholders have witnessed an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

According to most market participants, hedge funds are viewed as slow, outdated financial tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, we hone in on the masters of this group, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tracking their highest performing picks, we have deciphered a few investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as key, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are many stimuli for a corporate insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC).

How have hedgies been trading Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC)?

At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 71% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, holds the largest position in Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC). Paulson & Co has a $58 million position in the stock, comprising 0.4% of its 13F portfolio. On Paulson & Co’s heels is AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $39 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Robert Emil Zoellner’s Alpine Associates, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Paulson & Co, managed by John Paulson, established the biggest position in Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC). Paulson & Co had 58 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Emil Zoellner’s Alpine Associates also made a $31 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

Insider trading activity in Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC)

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC). These stocks are NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC), Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCO), Alamo Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALG), Lindsay Corporation (NYSE:LNN), and Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE). This group of stocks belong to the farm & construction machinery industry and their market caps resemble CASC’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by the aforementioned strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Cascade Corporation (NYSE:CASC) is no exception.