Hedge Funds Are Selling Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (SPB)

Is Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) a good investment?

Now, according to many investors, hedge funds are perceived as useless, outdated financial tools of a period lost to current times. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open in present day, this site focuses on the top tier of this club, about 525 funds. It is assumed that this group has its hands on most of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by keeping an eye on their highest quality investments, we’ve deciphered a few investment strategies that have historically beaten Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).

Equally as necessary, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the stock market universe. There are many motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

What’s more, let’s analyze the latest info for Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB).

How are hedge funds trading Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 18 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Phil Falcone’s Harbinger had the largest position in Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB), worth close to $1.7569 billion, comprising 69.7% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Christian Leone of Luxor Capital Group, with a $130.4 million position; the fund has 3.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Daniel Lewis’s Orange Capital, Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies.

As Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) has faced declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of money managers that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital sold off the largest investment of the 450+ funds we watch, totaling close to $3.3 million in stock. Malcolm Fairbairn’s fund, Ascend Capital, also said goodbye to its stock, about $1.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.

How have insiders been trading Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB). These stocks are Universal Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:UEIC), Panasonic Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:PC), Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), Fabrinet (NYSE:FN), and Harman International Industries Inc./DE/ (NYSE:HAR). This group of stocks are the members of the electronic equipment industry and their market caps resemble SPB’s market cap.

Using the results explained by our tactics, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPB) applies perfectly to this mantra.

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