You probably know from experience that there is not as much information on small-cap companies as there is on large companies. Of course, this makes it really hard and difficult for individual investors to make proper and accurate analysis of certain small-cap companies. However, well-known and successful hedge fund managers like Jeff Ubben, George Soros and Seth Klarman hold the necessary resources and abilities to conduct an extensive stock analysis on small-cap stocks, which enable them to make millions of dollars by identifying potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks. This represents the main reason why Insider Monkey takes notice of the hedge fund activity in these overlooked stocks.
Is Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR) worth your attention right now? Investors who are in the know are in a pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets were trimmed by 2 recently. Our calculations also showed that LAMR isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. LAMR was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with LAMR holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
Today there are tons of methods investors use to grade their stock investments. A couple of the most underrated methods are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outperform their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see the details here).
We’re going to take a glance at the key hedge fund action encompassing Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR).
What does the smart money think about Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR)?
Heading into the second quarter of 2019, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -9% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 22 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in LAMR a year ago. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR), which was worth $174.8 million at the end of the first quarter. On the second spot was Water Street Capital which amassed $15.4 million worth of shares. Moreover, Waratah Capital Advisors, Two Sigma Advisors, and GLG Partners were also bullish on Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Seeing as Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR) has witnessed falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates dropped the largest investment of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $1 million in stock. Benjamin A. Smith’s fund, Laurion Capital Management, also sold off its stock, about $0.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 2 funds in the third quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR) but similarly valued. These stocks are BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ:BGNE), Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD), Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL), and Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to LAMR’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BGNE | 15 | 1822583 | 0 |
| STLD | 27 | 405696 | -3 |
| TYL | 31 | 697752 | 7 |
| KIM | 11 | 71725 | -5 |
| Average | 21 | 749439 | -0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $749 million. That figure was $250 million in LAMR’s case. Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:TYL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Lamar Advertising Co (REIT) (NASDAQ:LAMR) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 1.9% in Q2 through May 30th and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by more than 3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on LAMR, though not to the same extent, as the stock returned 0.2% during the same time frame and outperformed the market as well.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
