Hedge Funds Hated These Tech Stocks in Q1

Investors Not Impressed with Imperva’s Weakening Guidance

Poor stock performance in the first quarter prompted hedge fund managers to limit their exposure to Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV). The stock ended the first quarter down by roughly 20% and at one point in time was 49% in the red. That prompted a 50% reduction in the number of funds in our database owning the stock, as the total  fell to 15 by the end of the first quarter, from 30 at the beginning of it. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies reduced its stake by 62% during the quarter, leaving it with 173,700 shares valued at $8.77 million. Imperva Inc (NYSE:IMPV) was a victim of weak forward guidance twice this year. After a bumper 2015, when demand for and spending on security solutions rose sharply, the company revised its growth outlook for 2016, contrary to analysts’ expectations. For the current quarter, Imperva projected revenue in the range of $65.5 million to $66.5 million and a loss of $0.04 to $0.02 per share, below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Software Developer with Monstrous P/E Loses Support

Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:TEAM) is also among the tech stocks that fell out of favor with elite hedge funds. Out of 766 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, only nine reported being long Atlassian in their latest 13F filings, down from 22 reporting such positions three months earlier. Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:TEAM) ended Friday’s trading session at $22.78 per share, down by 24% year-to-date. Shares are currently trading at a monster trailing P/E multiple of 530, while the industry average P/E stands at 21 according to Yahoo! Finance. Founded in 2002, Atlassian develops products for software developers, project managers, and content management, and is best know for Jira, a bug tracking tool. The company went public in December 2015 at $21 per share and raised $462 million in the process. As opposed to most hedge fund managers, Chase Coleman chose to keep his investment in Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:TEAM) intact. In its latest 13F filing, his fund Tiger Global Management reported a holding of 500,000 shares of Atlassian worth $12.5 million.

Airline Battle Sends Qunar Crashing Down to Earth

Hedge fund ownership of Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ:QUNR) fell the most among tech stocks during the first quarter, as the stock fell by as much as 37%. At the end of the first quarter, only nine of the funds followed by Insider Monkey had the stock in their portfolios, down from 25 a quarter earlier. Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ:QUNR) found itself at loggerheads with nine Chinese airlines, who decided to suspend their collaboration with it after an increase in the number of complaints from customers. The airlines cited complaints about price discrepancies and refunds for tickets booked on Qunar as the main reasons behind the boycott. As it was unable to reach an agreement with those air carriers, Qunar decided to start its own budget airline. After having held some 8.52 million shares of Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ:QUNR) at the end of the fourth quarter, Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global liquidated its entire position during the first three months of 2016.

Disclosure: None