Hedge Funds Are Dumping Jabil Circuit, Inc. (JBL)

The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors endured a torrid quarter, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL).

Is Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL) worth your attention right now? Prominent investors are taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions dropped by 2 in recent months. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE:SIX), Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME), and Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) to gather more data points.

In the financial world there are a lot of methods stock market investors employ to analyze their stock investments. Two of the best methods are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outpace the broader indices by a solid amount (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to check out the fresh action encompassing Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL).

What does the smart money think about Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 30 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the second quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, holds the largest position in Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL). AQR Capital Management has an $82.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Mark Wolfson and Jamie Alexander of Jasper Ridge Partners, with an $50 million position; 3.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish contain Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Ron Gutfleish’s Elm Ridge Capital.

Because Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL) has witnessed declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their full holdings heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies cut the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $3.9 million in stock, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $1.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL). These stocks are Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE:SIX), Home Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HME), Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL), and First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to JBL’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $514 million, slightly above the $310 million figure in JBL’s case. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Hexcel Corporation (NYSE:HXL) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL) 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. In this regard FSLR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.