Hedge Funds Don’t Have Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (ESLT) On Their Radars

There are several ways to beat the market, and investing in small-cap stocks has historically been one of them. We like to improve our odds of beating the market further by examining what famous hedge fund operators such as Carl Icahn and George Soros think. These hedge fund operators make billions of dollars each year by hiring the best and the brightest to do research on stocks, including small-cap stocks that big brokerage houses simply don’t cover. Because of Carl Icahn and other elite funds’ exemplary historical records, we pay attention to their small-cap picks. In this article, we use hedge fund filing data to analyze Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT).

Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently. Elbit Systems Ltd. was in 4 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 2 hedge funds in our database with Elbit Systems Ltd. positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Post Properties Inc (NYSE:PPS), Air Lease Corp (NYSE:AL), and Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) to gather more data points.

Today there are plenty of signals shareholders have at their disposal to size up stocks. Some of the less utilized signals are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outclass the market by a superb margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s review the latest action encompassing Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT).

What does the smart money think about Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a 100% jump from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or had already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Renaissance Technologies holds the largest position in Elbit Systems Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:ESLT). Renaissance Technologies has a $10 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second-most bullish fund manager is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which holds a $0.2 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining members of the smart money that hold long positions consist of Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.