Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Lands’ End, Inc. (LE)

Concerns over a shift in Fed’s easy monetary policy have hit several hedge funds hard during the third quarter. A number of sectors are in correction territory. More importantly, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) underperformed the larger S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 14 percentage points between June 25, 2015 and October 30, 2015. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were paring back their overall exposure and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE).

Is Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE) a great investment right now? Hedge funds are becoming less confident. The number of long hedge fund bets shrunk by 4 lately. LE was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with LE positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE:SDLP), Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG), and Orion Engineered Carbons SA (NYSE:OEC) to gather more data points.

According to most traders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, old investment tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading today, Our experts look at the crème de la crème of this group, around 700 funds. These investment experts shepherd most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by watching their inimitable stock picks, Insider Monkey has formulated several investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per annum for a decade in their back tests.

Now, we’re going to view the new action encompassing Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE).

Hedge fund activity in Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 12 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -25% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, ESL Investments, managed by Edward Lampert, holds the largest position in Lands’ End, Inc. (NASDAQ:LE). ESL Investments has a $181.6 million position in the stock, comprising 11.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Fairholme (FAIRX), managed by Bruce Berkowitz, which holds a $50.3 million position; the fund has 1.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Andre F. Perold’s HighVista Strategies and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.