Hedge Funds Are Dumping Full House Resorts, Inc. (FLL)

We at Insider Monkey have gone over 821 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the SEC The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, near the height of the coronavirus market crash. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL) based on that data.

Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL) has seen a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers of late. FLL was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with FLL positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that FLL isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

According to most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old investment tools of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds with their doors open today, Our researchers choose to focus on the upper echelon of this group, around 850 funds. These money managers administer the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their best investments, Insider Monkey has come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically outrun the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy surpassed the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per year since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 36% since February 2017 (through May 18th) even though the market was up 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 8 short targets in our latest quarterly update .

Brian Gustavson of 1060 Capital Management

At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, 2020’s unprecedented market conditions provide us with the highest number of trading opportunities in a decade. So we are checking out stocks recommended/scorned by legendary Bill Miller. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. Now we’re going to view the fresh hedge fund action encompassing Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL).

How have hedgies been trading Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL)?

Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -33% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards FLL over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s review which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL), which was worth $1.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Park West Asset Management which amassed $1.4 million worth of shares. GAMCO Investors, 1060 Capital Management, and Balyasny Asset Management 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 1060 Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL), around 4.73% of its 13F portfolio. Park West Asset Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.09 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to FLL.

Judging by the fact that Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL) has experienced declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few funds that elected to cut their positions entirely by the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital sold off the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $0.6 million in stock, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $0.2 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds by the end of the first quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Spark Networks SE (NYSE:LOV), ICC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICCH), Psychemedics Corp. (NASDAQ:PMD), and Pacific Drilling SA (NYSE:PACD). This group of stocks’ market values match FLL’s market value.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $11 million. That figure was $4 million in FLL’s case. Spark Networks SE (NYSE:LOV) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand ICC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICCH) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Full House Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.9% in 2020 through June 10th but still beat the market by 14.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on FLL as the stock returned 55.2% in Q2 (through June 10th) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.