A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended December 31, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM).
Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM) investors should pay attention to an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. THRM was in 17 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of December. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with THRM positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that THRM isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that hedge funds’ large-cap stock picks indeed failed to beat the market between 1999 and 2016. However, we were able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the market by 32 percentage points since May 2014 through March 12, 2019 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 27.5% through March 12, 2019. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We’re going to take a glance at the latest hedge fund action encompassing Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM).
How have hedgies been trading Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM)?
Heading into the first quarter of 2019, a total of 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 31% from the second quarter of 2018. On the other hand, there were a total of 17 hedge funds with a bullish position in THRM a year ago. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
More specifically, Trigran Investments was the largest shareholder of Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM), with a stake worth $45.6 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Trigran Investments was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $10.9 million. ACK Asset Management, Marcato Capital Management, and D E Shaw were also very fond of the stock, giving the stock large weights in their portfolios.
As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, established the most valuable position in Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM). D E Shaw had $1.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new THRM positions are Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM). We will take a look at Independent Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ:IBTX), Central Puerto S.A. (NYSE:CEPU), United Fire Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFCS), and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:KNSA). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble THRM’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBTX | 13 | 98991 | 2 |
| CEPU | 8 | 33956 | -1 |
| UFCS | 11 | 21284 | 3 |
| KNSA | 8 | 151336 | -1 |
| Average | 10 | 76392 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $76 million. That figure was $80 million in THRM’s case. Independent Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ:IBTX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Central Puerto S.A. (NYSE:CEPU) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Gentherm Inc (NASDAQ:THRM) is more popular among hedge funds. Our calculations showed that top 15 most popular stocks) among hedge funds returned 24.2% through April 22nd and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 7 percentage points. Unfortunately THRM wasn’t nearly as popular as these 15 stock and hedge funds that were betting on THRM were disappointed as the stock returned 4.5% and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 15 most popular stocks) among hedge funds as 13 of these stocks already outperformed the market this year.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
