After several tireless days we have finished crunching the numbers from nearly 750 13F filings issued by the elite hedge funds and other investment firms that we track at Insider Monkey, which disclosed those firms’ equity portfolios as of December 31. The results of that effort will be put on display in this article, as we share valuable insight into the smart money sentiment towards Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR).
Is Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) a buy, sell, or hold? The smart money is taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund bets increased by 6 recently. Our calculations also showed that AMKR isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds’ large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 32 percentage points since May 2014 through March 12, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 27.5% through March 12, 2019. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
Let’s take a glance at the new hedge fund action encompassing Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR).
How have hedgies been trading Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR)?
Heading into the first quarter of 2019, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in AMKR over the last 14 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
The largest stake in Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) was held by D E Shaw, which reported holding $17.7 million worth of stock at the end of December. It was followed by Two Sigma Advisors with a $6.8 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included AQR Capital Management, Citadel Investment Group, and Arrowstreet Capital.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, initiated the most outsized position in Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR). Arrowstreet Capital had $3.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management also initiated a $1.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AMKR positions are Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Mike Vranos’s Ellington, and Hoon Kim’s Quantinno Capital.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Kaman Corporation (NYSE:KAMN), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY), Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ARCH), and Varonis Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VRNS). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to AMKR’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| KAMN | 12 | 257876 | -8 |
| BBBY | 30 | 197296 | 2 |
| ARCH | 25 | 345870 | -1 |
| VRNS | 21 | 138429 | -1 |
| Average | 22 | 234868 | -2 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $235 million. That figure was $51 million in AMKR’s case. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kaman Corporation (NYSE:KAMN) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 15 most popular stocks) among hedge funds returned 24.2% through April 22nd and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 7 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on AMKR as the stock returned 35.7% and outperformed the market by an even larger margin. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
