Is CNH Industrial NV (CNHI) the Right Stock for Your Portfolio?

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CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI) has seen a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months. CNHI was in 15 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with CNHI positions at the end of the previous quarter. 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 Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU), Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR), and LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) to gather more data points.

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What does the smart money think about CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a 6% dip from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CNHI over the last 5 quarters, which has risen slightly during that time. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
CHNI
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management has the biggest position in CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI), worth close to $248.3 million, amounting to 2.4% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Orbis Investment Management, led by William B. Gray, holding a $85.8 million position. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism comprise Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management. We should note that two of these hedge funds (Southeastern Asset Management and Orbis Investment Management) are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-micro-cap stocks.

Seeing as CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of funds who sold off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management cut the largest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $3.1 million in stock, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $2.3 million worth of shares.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU), Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR), LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ), and Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCK). This group of stocks’ market caps match CNHI’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
KSU 35 907194 0
QSR 32 3143758 1
LKQ 32 668630 2
DISCK 21 280090 -3

As you can see these stocks had an average of 30 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.25 billion. That figure was $407 million in CNHI’s case. Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCK) is the least popular one with only 21 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI) is even less popular than DISCK. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock.

Disclosure: None