The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We have processed the filings of the more than 700 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their September 30 holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI) for your portfolio? We’ll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer.
Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI) has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. WIFI was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with WIFI holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that WIFI isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are seen as slow, old investment tools of the past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation today, Our researchers choose to focus on the masters of this club, about 750 funds. These hedge fund managers have their hands on most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping track of their inimitable equity investments, Insider Monkey has determined several investment strategies that have historically surpassed the market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Dmitry Balyasny of Balyasny Asset Managemnet
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. Let’s take a peek at the recent hedge fund action encompassing Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI).
What have hedge funds been doing with Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 13 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -7% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in WIFI over the last 17 quarters. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI), which was worth $28.3 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Two Sigma Advisors which amassed $5.2 million worth of shares. Citadel Investment Group, Balyasny Asset Management, and PDT Partners were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Trellus Management Company allocated the biggest weight to Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI), around 0.82% of its 13F portfolio. Weld Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.08 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to WIFI.
Because Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI) has witnessed declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds who sold off their positions entirely heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management dropped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising about $12.3 million in stock, and Mark Coe’s Intrinsic Edge Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $10.9 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI). We will take a look at AxoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXGN), Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH), Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC), and Ducommun Incorporated (NYSE:DCO). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to WIFI’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| AXGN | 13 | 62479 | -2 |
| AUPH | 13 | 87865 | 2 |
| FC | 10 | 21669 | 3 |
| DCO | 12 | 63714 | 1 |
| Average | 12 | 58932 | 1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $59 million. That figure was $42 million in WIFI’s case. AxoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXGN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE:FC) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Boingo Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:WIFI) 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. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Unfortunately WIFI wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on WIFI were disappointed as the stock returned 3.7% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as many of these stocks already outperformed the market so far this year.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
