With the third-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world preferred to invest or sell heading into the fourth quarter. One of these stocks was Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK).
Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) has seen an increase in hedge fund sentiment recently. Our calculations also showed that ORBK isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 6.3% year to date (through December 3rd) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 18 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We’re going to go over the latest hedge fund action encompassing Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK).
What have hedge funds been doing with Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 27 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 13% from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 18 hedge funds with a bullish position in ORBK at the beginning of this year. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Renaissance Technologies was the largest shareholder of Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK), with a stake worth $117.2 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Renaissance Technologies was Alpine Associates, which amassed a stake valued at $115.8 million. TIG Advisors, Millennium Management, and Sandell Asset Management were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
Now, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Farallon Capital, established the most valuable position in Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK). Farallon Capital had $13.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Daniel Arbess’s Perella Weinberg Partners also made a $7.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ian Cumming and Joseph Steinberg’s Leucadia National, Andre F. Perold’s HighVista Strategies, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) but similarly valued. These stocks are The RMR Group Inc. (NASDAQ:RMR), WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW), and Norbord Inc. (NYSE:OSB). This group of stocks’ market values match ORBK’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| RMR | 9 | 43789 | -2 |
| WCC | 26 | 504839 | 0 |
| CXW | 13 | 155256 | -2 |
| OSB | 10 | 31571 | 1 |
| Average | 14.5 | 183864 | -0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $184 million. That figure was $587 million in ORBK’s case. WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The RMR Group Inc. (NASDAQ:RMR) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Orbotech Ltd. (NASDAQ:ORBK) 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.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
