Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Finisar Corporation (FNSR)

What’s a smart Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR) investor to do?

In the eyes of many of your peers, hedge funds are perceived as delayed, outdated financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are more than 8,000 hedge funds trading in present day, this site focuses on the elite of this group, around 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total assets, and by tracking their best investments, we’ve figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find the details here).

Just as necessary, positive insider trading activity is another way to analyze the world of equities. Obviously, there are a variety of reasons for an executive to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).

Furthermore, it’s important to examine the recent info for Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR).

What have hedge funds been doing with Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR)?

In preparation for the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 11% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the biggest position in Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR), worth close to $76.5 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $22 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions include Christopher Zepf and Brian Thonn’s Kingdom Ridge Capital, Kerr Neilson’s Platinum Asset Management and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

Consequently, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, created the largest position in Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR). Fisher Asset Management had 76.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Johnston’s Steelhead Partners also made a $28.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new FNSR investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Christopher Zepf and Brian Thonn’s Kingdom Ridge Capital, and Kerr Neilson’s Platinum Asset Management.

Insider trading activity in Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR)

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR). These stocks are Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX), Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW), Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN), and Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RVBD). This group of stocks are the members of the networking & communication devices industry and their market caps are similar to FNSR’s market cap.