Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Volcano Corporation (VOLC) Anymore

Is Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) a good investment?

If you were to ask many market players, hedge funds are viewed as bloated, outdated investment tools of a forgotten age. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open in present day, Insider Monkey looks at the elite of this group, about 525 funds. It is assumed that this group controls most of the smart money’s total assets, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing picks, we’ve unearthed a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per annum for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outperformed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Equally as necessary, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the world of equities. There are plenty of reasons for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you know what to do (learn more here).

What’s more, it’s important to discuss the newest info about Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC).

How have hedgies been trading Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC)?

At the end of the second quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -17% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to our 13F database, Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management had the largest position in Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC), worth close to $44 million, accounting for 2.1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Stephen DuBois of Camber Capital Management, with a $39.9 million position; 4.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) has experienced dropping sentiment from upper-tier hedge fund managers, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of money managers that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q2. It’s worth mentioning that Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP dropped the largest stake of all the hedgies we track, totaling close to $25.6 million in stock. Donald Chiboucis’s fund, Columbus Circle Investors, also dropped its stock, about $10.4 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds heading into Q2.

Insider trading activity in Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC)

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last 180-day time frame, Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, 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 Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC). These stocks are CONMED Corporation (NASDAQ:CNMD), ArthroCare Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTC), Globus Medical Inc (NYSE:GMED), Cyberonics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYBX), and Masimo Corporation (NASDAQ:MASI). This group of stocks are in the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps match VOLC’s market cap.

Using the results explained by the previously mentioned tactics, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) is no exception.

Discover how hedge fund piggybacking can benefit you