Is Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX) a good equity to bet on right now? We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research on a given stock. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks among hedge fund investors have historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk attributes. It’s not surprising given that hedge funds have access to better information and more resources to predict the winners in the stock market.
Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX) shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the third quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 8 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2019. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Spok Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPOK), InnerWorkings, Inc. (NASDAQ:INWK), and Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK) to gather more data points. Our calculations also showed that APYX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
To the average investor there are tons of tools market participants can use to evaluate stocks. A duo of the most useful tools are hedge fund and insider trading moves. Our researchers have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite hedge fund managers can beat the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here).
Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies
We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. One of the most bullish analysts in America just put his money where his mouth is. He says, “I’m investing more today than I did back in early 2009.” So we check out his pitch. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We also rely on the best performing hedge funds‘ buy/sell signals. We’re going to take a look at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX).
What does smart money think about Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 8 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the second quarter of 2019. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards APYX over the last 17 quarters. So, let’s find out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Constantinos J. Christofilis’s Archon Capital Management has the largest position in Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX), worth close to $18.6 million, corresponding to 4.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Renaissance Technologies, which holds a $4.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism comprise Murray Stahl’s Horizon Asset Management, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and Efrem Kamen’s Pura Vida Investments. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Archon Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX), around 4.37% of its 13F portfolio. Pura Vida Investments is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 1.01 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to APYX.
We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Winton Capital Management. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case because only one of the 800+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock (that fund was AQR Capital Management).
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX). We will take a look at Spok Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPOK), InnerWorkings, Inc. (NASDAQ:INWK), Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK), and Panhandle Oil and Gas Inc. (NYSE:PHX). This group of stocks’ market values match APYX’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPOK | 11 | 26631 | 0 |
| INWK | 14 | 39181 | 0 |
| TSBK | 3 | 30150 | 0 |
| PHX | 3 | 34248 | -1 |
| Average | 7.75 | 32553 | -0.25 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $33 million. That figure was $34 million in APYX’s case. InnerWorkings, Inc. (NASDAQ:INWK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK) is the least popular one with only 3 bullish hedge fund positions. Apyx Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:APYX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 37.4% in 2019 through the end of November and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 9.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on APYX as the stock returned 17.9% during the fourth quarter (through the end of November) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
