Judging by the fact that Laredo Petroleum Holdings Inc (NYSE:LPI) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their positions entirely heading into Q4. At the top of the heap, Kevin D. Eng’s Columbus Hill Capital Management cut the biggest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $10.4 million in call options., and Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $4.7 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds heading into Q4.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Laredo Petroleum Holdings Inc (NYSE:LPI) but similarly valued. These stocks are BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI), Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI), Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS), and Cousins Properties Inc (NYSE:CUZ). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to LPI’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOFI | 13 | 132203 | -1 |
| OMI | 18 | 150949 | 0 |
| CRUS | 30 | 229498 | 5 |
| CUZ | 17 | 73978 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $147 million, compared to $227 million in LPI’s case. Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Laredo Petroleum Holdings Inc (NYSE:LPI) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CRUS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
