Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Standex Int’l Corp. (SXI)

Like everyone else, elite investors make mistakes. Some of their top consensus picks, such as Micron and Anadarko Petroleum, have not done well during the last 12 months ending in October due to various reasons. Nevertheless, the data show elite investors’ consensus picks have done well on average. The top 30 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds at the end of September 2014 yielded an average return of 9.5% during the last four quarters ending in October and sixty three percent of these 30 stocks outperformed the market. S&P 500 Index returned only 5.2% during the same period and less than 49% of its constituents managed to beat this return. Because their consensus picks have done well, we pay attention to what elite funds think before doing extensive research on a stock. In this article, we take a closer look at Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) from the perspective of those elite funds.

Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds of late. At the end of this article we will also compare SXI to other stocks including Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSIT), Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW), and Ferro Corporation (NYSE:FOE) to get a better sense of its popularity.

If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be underperforming, old investment vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, We hone in on the aristocrats of this group, around 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people watch over bulk of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their matchless stock picks, Insider Monkey has determined several investment strategies that have historically outperformed Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the fresh action encompassing Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI).

Hedge fund activity in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI)

At Q3’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 57% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors has the number one position in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI), worth close to $5.6 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, led by Israel Englander, holding a $5.4 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish contain Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, initiated the biggest position in Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI). Millennium Management had $5.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $3.7 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI). We will take a look at Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSIT), Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW), Ferro Corporation (NYSE:FOE), and Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to SXI’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $125 million. In SXI’s case, this figure was $30 million. Ferro Corporation (NYSE:FOE) is the most popular stock in this table, while Linn Energy LLC (NASDAQ:LINE) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Standex Int’l Corp. (NYSE:SXI) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard FOE might be a better candidate to consider a long position.