Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS)

Is it smart to be bullish on Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS)?

At the moment, there are tons of metrics shareholders can use to monitor their holdings. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a very impressive margin (see just how much).

Just as useful, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the marketplace. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of motivations for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors know what to do (learn more here).

Thus, it’s important to examine the recent info about Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS).

How have hedgies been trading Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS)?

Heading into Q3, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -38% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, RA Capital Management, managed by Peter Kolchinsky, holds the biggest position in Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS). RA Capital Management has a $24.5 million position in the stock, comprising 3.2% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Visium Asset Management, managed by Jacob Gottlieb, which held a $21.2 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Andrew J. M. Spokes’s Farallon Capital and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.

Because Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money’s best and brightest, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their positions entirely in Q1. Interestingly, Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners dropped the largest position of all the hedgies we key on, valued at close to $1.5 million in stock. Louis Bacon’s fund, Moore Global Investments, also cut its stock, about $0.7 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 6 funds in Q1.

How have insiders been trading Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS)?

Insider buying is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time frame, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also review the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS). These stocks are Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRIS), Repros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RPRX), Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX), XOMA Corp (NASDAQ:XOMA), and Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS). This group of stocks belong to the biotechnology industry and their market caps are similar to SNSS’s market cap.