The first quarter was a breeze as Powell pivoted, and China seemed eager to reach a deal with Trump. Both the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 delivered very strong gains as a result, with the Russell 2000, which is composed of smaller companies, outperforming the large-cap stocks slightly during the first quarter. Unfortunately sentiment shifted in May and August as this time China pivoted and Trump put more pressure on China by increasing tariffs. Fourth quarter brought optimism to the markets and hedge funds’ top 20 stock picks performed spectacularly in this volatile environment. These stocks delivered a total gain of 37.4% through the end of November, vs. a gain of 27.5% for the S&P 500 ETF. In this article we will look at how this market volatility affected the sentiment of hedge funds towards CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV), and what that likely means for the prospects of the company and its stock.
Is CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV) a buy, sell, or hold? The best stock pickers are getting more bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund bets advanced by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that CBFV isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To most shareholders, hedge funds are viewed as slow, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, Our researchers hone in on the top tier of this club, about 750 funds. These money managers have their hands on bulk of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by watching their finest picks, Insider Monkey has deciphered numerous investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points annually since its inception in May 2014. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 27.8% since February 2017 (through November 21st) even though the market was up more than 39% during the same period. We just shared a list of 7 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Israel Englander of Millennium Management
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Discover is offering this insane cashback card, so we look into shorting the stock. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We even check out this option genius’ weekly trade ideas. This December, we recommended Adams Energy as a one-way bet based on an under-the-radar fund manager’s investor letter and the stock already gained 20 percent. With all of this in mind let’s take a look at the new hedge fund action regarding CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV).
How are hedge funds trading CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 33% from the second quarter of 2019. By comparison, 2 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in CBFV a year ago. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies has the biggest position in CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV), worth close to $1.7 million, amounting to less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jeffrey Gendell of Tontine Asset Management, with a $1.3 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism comprise Donald Sussman’s Paloma Partners, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and . In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Tontine Asset Management allocated the biggest weight to CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV), around 0.19% of its 13F portfolio. Paloma Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 0.01 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CBFV.
There weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions in the stock during the third quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK), Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (NYSE:OSG), U.S. Well Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:USWS), and The GDL Fund (NYSE:GDL). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to CBFV’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| HWBK | 3 | 3766 | 1 |
| OSG | 12 | 38564 | 0 |
| USWS | 13 | 11651 | 2 |
| GDL | 3 | 5578 | 0 |
| Average | 7.75 | 14890 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $15 million. That figure was $4 million in CBFV’s case. U.S. Well Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:USWS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWBK) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. CB Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBFV) 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 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on CBFV, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 7.2% during the first two months of the fourth quarter and outperformed the market.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.