Hedge Funds Data Says Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK) May Be Lacking

With the third-quarter round of 13F filings behind us it is time to take a look at the stocks in which some of the best money managers in the world were buying or selling heading into the fourth quarter. One of these stocks was Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), so let’s see how top investors were trading it.

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest lately, being included in the portfolios of 24 investors tracked by Insider Monkey. At the end of this article we will also compare Nokia Corporation to other stocks including O’Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY), Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC), and Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) to get a better sense of its popularity.

If you’d ask most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, outdated financial vehicles of years past. While there are over 8,000 funds in operation today, our researchers look at the leaders of this group, approximately 700 funds. These money managers watch over the bulk of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by paying attention to their highest performing stock picks, Insider Monkey has formulated several investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the latest action encompassing Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK).

How have hedgies been trading Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a 4% boost from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings meaningfully (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Fir Tree has the biggest position in Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), worth close to $108.2 million, corresponding to 1.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting in the 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, holding a $105.2 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism contain Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital, and Francis Chou’s Chou Associates Management.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the largest position in Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK). Millennium Management had $59.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Spencer M. Waxman’s Shannon River Fund Management also made an $8.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, Wojciech Uzdelewicz’s Espalier Global Management, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK). These stocks are O’Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY), Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC), Aon PLC (NYSE:AON), and LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble Nokia Corporation’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.29 billion. That figure was $451 million in Nokia Corporation’s case. Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) is the least popular one with only 34 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is even less popular than Aon and has far less money invested in it than any of the other stocks. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock.