The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the March 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 Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).
Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) was in 22 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. EIGR has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest recently. There were 21 hedge funds in our database with EIGR positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that eigr isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Hedge funds’ reputation as shrewd investors has been tarnished in the last decade as their hedged returns couldn’t keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. Our research has shown that hedge funds’ small-cap stock picks managed to beat the market by double digits annually between 1999 and 2016, but the margin of outperformance has been declining in recent years. Nevertheless, we were still able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 40 percentage points since May 2014 through May 30, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that underperformed the market by 10 percentage points annually between 2006 and 2017. Interestingly the margin of underperformance of these stocks has been increasing in recent years. Investors who are long the market and short these stocks would have returned more than 27% annually between 2015 and 2017. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 in our quarterly newsletter.
We’re going to check out the recent hedge fund action encompassing Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR).
How are hedge funds trading Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 22 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 5% from the previous quarter. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in EIGR over the last 15 quarters. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, RA Capital Management, managed by Peter Kolchinsky, holds the most valuable position in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR). RA Capital Management has a $33.8 million position in the stock, comprising 1.5% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Vivo Capital, managed by Albert Cha and Frank Kung, which holds a $25 million position; the fund has 2.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management, Ari Zweiman’s 683 Capital Partners and Oleg Nodelman’s EcoR1 Capital.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Two Sigma Advisors, managed by John Overdeck and David Siegel, established the most valuable position in Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR). Two Sigma Advisors had $0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital also made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Preformed Line Products Company (NASDAQ:PLPC), CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL), CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CASI), and SilverBow Resorces, Inc. (NYSE:SBOW). This group of stocks’ market valuations match EIGR’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLPC | 7 | 31280 | 2 |
| CBL | 15 | 14297 | 0 |
| CASI | 4 | 452 | 2 |
| SBOW | 6 | 160979 | -1 |
| Average | 8 | 51752 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $52 million. That figure was $167 million in EIGR’s case. CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CASI) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIGR) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. Unfortunately EIGR wasn’t nearly as popular as these 20 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on EIGR were disappointed as the stock returned -20.4% during the same period and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market in Q2.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
