Hedge Funds Are Dumping Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (SYKE)

Most investors tend to think that hedge funds and other asset managers are worthless, as they cannot beat even simple index fund portfolios. In fact, most people expect hedge funds to compete with and outperform the bull market that we have witnessed over the past few years. However, hedge funds are generally partially hedged and aim at delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns rather than following the ups and downs of equity markets hoping that they will outperform the broader market. Our research shows that hedge funds do have great stock picking skills, so let’s take a glance at the smart money sentiment towards Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE).

Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. SYKE has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest recently. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with SYKE positions at the end of the previous quarter. 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 Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA), Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:BNCL), and The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM) to gather more data points.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are seen as slow, old investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading today, We look at the upper echelon of this club, around 700 funds. These money managers direct the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total asset base, and by following their top stock picks, Insider Monkey has figured out a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE).

How are hedge funds trading Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates has the largest position in Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE), worth close to $21.8 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies holding a $14.4 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. The remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions comprise Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.