As we already know from media reports and hedge fund investor letters, hedge funds delivered their best returns in a decade. Most investors who decided to stick with hedge funds after a rough 2018 recouped their losses by the end of the fourth quarter of 2019. A significant number of hedge funds continued their strong performance in 2020 and 2021 as well. We get to see hedge funds’ thoughts towards the market and individual stocks by aggregating their quarterly portfolio movements and reading their investor letters. In this article, we will particularly take a look at what hedge funds think about Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE).
Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) was in 29 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic was previously 27. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. HELE investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with HELE positions at the end of the fourth quarter. Our calculations also showed that HELE isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).
Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that a select group of hedge fund holdings outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by 115 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium mining is one of the fastest growing industries right now, so we are checking out stock pitches like this emerging lithium stock. We go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage. Now let’s take a gander at the new hedge fund action surrounding Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE).
Do Hedge Funds Think HELE Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At first quarter’s end, a total of 29 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 53% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards HELE over the last 23 quarters. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the biggest position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE). Fisher Asset Management has a $101.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Arrowstreet Capital, led by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, holding a $32.2 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers that are bullish consist of Amy Minella’s Cardinal Capital, Frank Fu’s CaaS Capital and Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Zebra Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE), around 1.19% of its 13F portfolio. Algert Global is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 0.99 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to HELE.
Consequently, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. CaaS Capital, managed by Frank Fu, assembled the most outsized position in Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE). CaaS Capital had $9.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $5.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new HELE investors: Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Roger Ibbotson’s Zebra Capital Management.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG), Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR), AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC), Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC), Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR), Vontier Corporation (NYSE:VNT), and Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble HELE’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENSG | 13 | 87836 | -6 |
| SPR | 44 | 1120191 | 3 |
| AMC | 19 | 34006 | 3 |
| ACHC | 30 | 525135 | 1 |
| AVIR | 13 | 1296595 | -1 |
| VNT | 38 | 786836 | 2 |
| PK | 18 | 101472 | 5 |
| Average | 25 | 564582 | 1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $565 million. That figure was $214 million in HELE’s case. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ:HELE) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for HELE is 65.8. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 22.8% in 2021 through July 2nd and still beat the market by 6 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on HELE, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 10.3% since Q1 (through July 2nd) and outperformed the market as well.
Follow Helen Of Troy Ltd (NASDAQ:HELE)
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
