Hedge Funds Buying SYNNEX Corporation (SNX) Again

The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. In this article we look at what those investors think of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX).

SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) investors should pay attention to an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. SNX was in 24 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with SNX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that SNX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 58 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 36% through May 18th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

Donald Sussman of Paloma Partners

At Insider Monkey we leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example, 2020’s unprecedented market conditions provide us with the highest number of trading opportunities in a decade. So we are checking out trades like this one. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to take a peek at the recent hedge fund action surrounding SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX).

What does smart money think about SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX)?

Heading into the second quarter of 2020, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 9% from the fourth quarter of 2019. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in SNX over the last 18 quarters. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.

The largest stake in SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) was held by AQR Capital Management, which reported holding $89.4 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Lyrical Asset Management with a $82.4 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Citadel Investment Group, Renaissance Technologies, and Woodline Partners. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Lyrical Asset Management allocated the biggest weight to SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX), around 2.03% of its 13F portfolio. Horseman Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.77 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to SNX.

Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. GLG Partners, managed by Noam Gottesman, assembled the most valuable position in SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX). GLG Partners had $0.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners also made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SNX positions are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Frederick DiSanto’s Ancora Advisors, and Ryan Tolkin (CIO)’s Schonfeld Strategic Advisors.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX). We will take a look at MAXIMUS, Inc. (NYSE:MMS), PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB), HUYA Inc. (NYSE:HUYA), and Woodward Inc (NASDAQ:WWD). All of these stocks’ market caps match SNX’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $176 million. That figure was $264 million in SNX’s case. MAXIMUS, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) is the least popular one with only 17 bullish hedge fund positions. SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE:SNX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.9% in 2020 through June 10th but still beat the market by 14.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on SNX as the stock returned 49.3% in Q2 (through June 10th) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.