Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).
Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. MINI was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the second quarter of 2019. There were 14 hedge funds in our database with MINI positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that MINI isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (see the video below).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 25.8% year to date (through May 30th) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Unlike former hedge manager, Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, who is convinced Dow will soar past 40000, our long-short investment strategy doesn’t rely on bull markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on hedge fund buy/sell signals. We’re going to analyze the recent hedge fund action surrounding Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).
How have hedgies been trading Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI)?
Heading into the third quarter of 2019, a total of 15 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 7% from the first quarter of 2019. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in MINI over the last 16 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Among these funds, Fisher Asset Management held the most valuable stake in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), which was worth $18.4 million at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was Renaissance Technologies which amassed $12.9 million worth of shares. Moreover, Citadel Investment Group, Marshall Wace LLP, and Millennium Management were also bullish on Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Now, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Two Sigma Advisors, managed by John Overdeck and David Siegel, assembled the most valuable position in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). Two Sigma Advisors had $3.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MINI positions are Minhua Zhang’s Weld Capital Management, Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital, and Brandon Haley’s Holocene Advisors.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ:VRTU), Grupo Simec S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:SIM), Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC), and Materion Corp (NYSE:MTRN). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble MINI’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| VRTU | 13 | 56606 | 3 |
| SIM | 1 | 2045 | -1 |
| ALEC | 13 | 347529 | 1 |
| MTRN | 15 | 112610 | -2 |
| Average | 10.5 | 129698 | 0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 10.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $130 million. That figure was $92 million in MINI’s case. Materion Corp (NYSE:MTRN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Simec S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:SIM) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 24.4% in 2019 through September 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 4 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MINI as the stock returned 22.2% during the third quarter and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
