The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX).
Is Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX) a sound investment today? Prominent investors were turning bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions advanced by 2 recently. Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX) was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic was previously 19. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that CMRX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q2 rankings).
James E. Flynn of Deerfield Management
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Now we’re going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action regarding Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX).
Do Hedge Funds Think CMRX Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in CMRX over the last 25 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.
More specifically, Opaleye Management was the largest shareholder of Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX), with a stake worth $31.1 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Opaleye Management was Point72 Asset Management, which amassed a stake valued at $25.7 million. Rubric Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, and MSDC 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 Opaleye Management allocated the biggest weight to Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX), around 5.82% of its 13F portfolio. MSDC Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.73 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CMRX.
As aggregate interest increased, key money managers have jumped into Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX) headfirst. Rubric Capital Management, managed by David Rosen, created the most valuable position in Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX). Rubric Capital Management had $24.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Marc Lisker, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSDC Management also made a $12.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group, and Andre F. Perold’s HighVista Strategies.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Atomera Incorporated (NASDAQ:ATOM), Biglari Holdings Inc (NYSE:BH), Arlo Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ARLO), Ikena Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:IKNA), DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), Trean Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TIG), and W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE:WTI). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to CMRX’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATOM | 5 | 4729 | -3 |
| BH | 8 | 23358 | 0 |
| ARLO | 18 | 50045 | 1 |
| IKNA | 8 | 208821 | -5 |
| DSPG | 19 | 118274 | 5 |
| TIG | 5 | 55926 | -5 |
| WTI | 17 | 26462 | -1 |
| Average | 11.4 | 69659 | -1.1 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $70 million. That figure was $150 million in CMRX’s case. DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Atomera Incorporated (NASDAQ:ATOM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX) is more popular among hedge funds. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for CMRX is 87. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 29.6% in 2021 and still beat the market by 3.6 percentage points. Unfortunately CMRX wasn’t nearly as popular as these 5 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on CMRX were disappointed as the stock returned 3.9% since the end of the third quarter (through 12/31) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds as most of these stocks already outperformed the market since 2019.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
