At Insider Monkey, we follow around 730 of the best-performing investors and even though many of them lost money in the last several months, the history teaches us that over the long-run they still manage to beat the market, which is why it can be profitable for us to imitate their activity. Of course, even the best money managers can sometimes get it wrong, but following some of their picks gives us a better chance to outperform the crowd than picking a random stock and this is where our research comes in.
Is Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU) worth your attention right now? Hedge funds are getting more bullish. The number of long hedge fund bets increased by 4 in recent months. At the end of this article, we will also compare Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU) to other stocks, including Homeinns Hotel Group (ADR) (NASDAQ:HMIN), AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG), and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Kaiser Aluminum Corp (NASDAQ:KALU)
Follow Kaiser Aluminum Corp (NASDAQ:KALU)
In today’s marketplace, there are a lot of signals investors employ to evaluate publicly traded companies. A duo of the less utilized signals are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a very impressive amount (see the details here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the recent action surrounding Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU).
Hedge fund activity in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU)
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, an increase of 27% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU). Royce & Associates has a $46.9 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Joe Huber of Huber Capital Management, with a $26.4 million position; 0.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Renaissance Technologies, Michael Price’s MFP Investors, and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Point72 Asset Management, managed by Steve Cohen, established the largest position in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU). Point72 Asset Management had $4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP also initiated a $1.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Lee Munder’s Lee Munder Capital Group, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU). We will take a look at Homeinns Hotel Group (ADR) (NASDAQ:HMIN), AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG), Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS), and Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS). This group of stocks’ market valuations resembles Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU)’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMIN | 7 | 73710 | 2 |
| AMAG | 29 | 388825 | 0 |
| SSYS | 17 | 156792 | -1 |
| RMBS | 16 | 58379 | 5 |
As you can see, these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $169 million. That figure was $161 million in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU)’s case. AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Homeinns Hotel Group (ADR) (NASDAQ:HMIN) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU) 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, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAG) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
