Billionaire hedge fund managers such as Steve Cohen and Stan Druckenmiller can generate millions or even billions of dollars every year by pinning down high-potential small-cap stocks and pouring cash into these candidates. Small-cap stocks are overlooked by most investors, brokerage houses, and financial services hubs, while the unlimited research abilities of the big players within the hedge fund industry can easily identify the undervalued and high-potential stocks that reside the ignored corners of equity markets. There are numerous small-cap stocks that have turned out to be great winners, which is one of the main reasons the Insider Monkey team pays close attention to the hedge fund activity in relation to these stocks.
Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP) was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September, same as in the previous quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. 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 Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR), Science Applications International Corp (NYSE:SAIC), and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) to gather more data points.
Follow Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP)
Follow Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP)
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How have hedgies been trading Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP)?
At Q3’s end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, unchanged from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards FDP over the last 5 quarters. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies has the most valuable position in Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP), worth close to $33.3 million. On Renaissance Technologies’s heels is AQR Capital Management, led by Cliff Asness, holding a $25.4 million position. Some other members of the smart money that are bullish encompass Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
Seeing as Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP) has gone through a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of money managers that decided to sell off their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners said goodbye to the biggest position of all the investors monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $0.4 million in stock, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.3 million worth of shares.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP) but similarly valued. These stocks are Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR), Science Applications International Corp (NYSE:SAIC), Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM), and Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble FDP’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| WOR | 16 | 152481 | -2 |
| SAIC | 15 | 80466 | -1 |
| SFM | 22 | 139941 | 0 |
| SLGN | 9 | 146710 | -2 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $130 million. That figure was $125 million in FDP’s case. Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Silgan Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SLGN) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SFM might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: None
