Coronavirus is probably the #1 concern in investors’ minds right now. It should be. On February 27th we published an article with the title Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW. We predicted that a US recession is imminent and US stocks will go down by at least 20% in the next 3-6 months. We also told you to short the market ETFs and buy long-term bonds. Investors who agreed with us and replicated these trades are up double digits whereas the market is down double digits. Our article also called for a total international travel ban to prevent the spread of the coronavirus especially from Europe. We were one step ahead of the markets and the president.
In these volatile markets we scrutinize hedge fund filings to get a reading on which direction each stock might be going. 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 have processed the filings of the more than 835 world-class investment firms that we track and now have access to the collective wisdom contained in these filings, which are based on their December 31 holdings, data that is available nowhere else. Should you consider America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX) for your portfolio? We’ll look to this invaluable collective wisdom for the answer.
Is America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX) a first-rate investment today? Hedge funds are turning bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions advanced by 6 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that AMX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q4 rankings and see the video below for Q3 rankings). AMX was in 17 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with AMX positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
According to most investors, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation today, We choose to focus on the leaders of this club, approximately 850 funds. These hedge fund managers watch over most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their inimitable equity investments, Insider Monkey has uncovered various investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy exceeded the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per annum since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 35.3% since February 2017 (through March 3rd) even though the market was up more than 35% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Ken Fisher of Fisher Asset Management
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences, and and go through short-term trade recommendations like this one. We even check out the recommendations of services with hard to believe track records. In January, we recommended a long position in one of the most shorted stocks in the market, and that stock returned more than 50% despite the large losses in the market since our recommendation. Keeping this in mind let’s go over the fresh hedge fund action regarding America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX).
What does smart money think about America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX)?
At Q4’s end, a total of 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 55% from the third quarter of 2019. By comparison, 12 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in AMX a year ago. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Fisher Asset Management held the most valuable stake in America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX), which was worth $127.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Renaissance Technologies which amassed $58.4 million worth of shares. Driehaus Capital, GLG Partners, and Millennium Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Dalton Investments allocated the biggest weight to America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX), around 2.86% of its 13F portfolio. Indus Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 1.44 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to AMX.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have jumped into America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX) headfirst. Driehaus Capital, managed by Richard Driehaus, initiated the largest position in America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX). Driehaus Capital had $38 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management also made a $1.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ronald Hua’s Qtron Investments, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX). We will take a look at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD), and Intercontinental Exchange Inc (NYSE:ICE). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to AMX’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WBA | 38 | 693507 | 0 |
| APD | 54 | 736586 | 13 |
| VOD | 16 | 758597 | -4 |
| ICE | 52 | 2712531 | 3 |
| Average | 40 | 1225305 | 3 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 40 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1225 million. That figure was $278 million in AMX’s case. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Vodafone Group Plc (NASDAQ:VOD) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE:AMX) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks lost 11.7% in 2020 through March 11th but still beat the market by 3.1 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on AMX as the stock returned -10% during the same time period and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
