Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) has seen an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently.
In the financial world, there are a multitude of methods market participants can use to track Mr. Market. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Obviously, there are plenty of incentives for an executive to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a glance at the latest action encompassing Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL).
What does the smart money think about Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 44 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 5% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, Christian Leone’s Luxor Capital Group had the most valuable position in Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL), worth close to $144.5 million, accounting for 2.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Discovery Capital Management, managed by Rob Citrone, which held a $96.2 million position; the fund has 1.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies with similar optimism include J Kevin Kenny Jr’s Emerging Sovereign Group, Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management and Brian Kelly’s Asian Century Quest.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) headfirst. Moore Global Investments, managed by Louis Bacon, established the largest call position in Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL). Moore Global Investments had 58.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Roberto Mignone’s Bridger Management also made a $42 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MPEL investors: John Wu’s Sureview Capital, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management, and Abby Flamholz and Yehuda Blinder’s ADAR Investment Management.
What have insiders been doing with Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL)?
Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time period, Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL). These stocks are Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN), Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL), and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN). This group of stocks belong to the resorts & casinos industry and their market caps match MPEL’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN) | 31 | 3 | 8 |
| Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) | 36 | 0 | 9 |
| MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) | 37 | 0 | 3 |
| Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) | 26 | 0 | 9 |
| Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) | 36 | 0 | 6 |
With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s studies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:MPEL) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
