Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Curtiss-Wright Corp. (CW) Anymore

Is it smart to be bullish on Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW)?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to analyze stocks. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can beat the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. Obviously, there are lots of reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this strategy if “monkeys” know where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to discuss the recent info for Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW).

What have hedge funds been doing with Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 9 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -40% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, holds the biggest position in Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW). GAMCO Investors has a $94.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Richard S. Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, with a $37.6 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include David Dreman’s Dreman Value Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Alexander Roepers’s Atlantic Investment Management.

Due to the fact Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW) has faced declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management cut the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, worth an estimated $3.7 million in stock. Mike Vranos’s fund, Ellington, also cut its stock, about $0.4 million worth. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds last quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW). These stocks are Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHR), Geospace Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:GEOS), Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI), Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX), and Ixia (NASDAQ:XXIA). This group of stocks are in the scientific & technical instruments industry and their market caps are closest to CW’s market cap.