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 investors like Carl Icahn and George Soros 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.
InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR) investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds recently, although it might come with a little surprise, considering that the stock lost 41.07% value during the quarter. There were 7 hedge funds in our database with InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR) holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Our team decided to find out more about the hedge funds holding positions in the company.
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 Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC), Forbes Energy Services Ltd. (NASDAQ:FES), and MELA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:MELA) to gather more data points.
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In the financial world, there are a lot of signals investors employ to evaluate publicly traded companies. Two of the most useful signals are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can trounce the broader indices by a significant margin (see the details here).
Now, let’s take a glance at the key action regarding InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR).
How have hedgies been trading InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a decline of 14% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Steven Boyd’s Armistice Capital has the largest position in InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR), worth close to $1.1 million, amounting to 0.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Armistice Capital’s heels is Michael Castor of Sio Capital, with a $0.4 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish contain Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital, Renaissance Technologies, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Because InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR) has faced a declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedge funds who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Interestingly, Sio Capital sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling about $0.6 million in stock. Matthew Strobeck’s fund, Birchview Capital, also cut its stock, about $0.2 million worth of shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 fund in the third quarter.
Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR). These stocks are Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC), Forbes Energy Services Ltd. (NASDAQ:FES), MELA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:MELA), and Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX). This group of stocks’ market values resemble InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR)’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINC | 6 | 2144 | -1 |
| FES | 4 | 2343 | -1 |
| MELA | 4 | 2223 | -1 |
| WAVX | 4 | 131 | 2 |
As you can see, these stocks had an average of 5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2 million. That figure was $2 million in InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR)’s case. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Forbes Energy Services Ltd. (NASDAQ:FES) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. InspireMD Inc (NYSEMKT:NSPR) 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, Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
