The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. We are almost done with the second quarter. Investors decided to bet on the economic recovery and a stock market rebound. S&P 500 Index returned almost 20% this quarter. In this article we look at how hedge funds traded Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX) and determine whether the smart money was really smart about this stock.
Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. QTRX was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2020. There were 12 hedge funds in our database with QTRX positions at the end of the previous quarter. Our calculations also showed that QTRX isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).
Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
According to most investors, hedge funds are perceived as underperforming, outdated investment tools of yesteryear. While there are more than 8000 funds trading at present, We hone in on the crème de la crème of this group, about 850 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people oversee most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by tracking their top stock picks, Insider Monkey has discovered many investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points a year since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 36% since February 2017 (through May 18th) even though the market was up 30% during the same period. We just shared a list of 8 short targets in our latest quarterly update .
Michael Castor of Sio Capital
At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. There is a lot of volatility in the markets and this presents amazing investment opportunities from time to time. For example, this trader claims to deliver juiced up returns with one trade a week, so we are checking out his highest conviction idea. A second trader claims to score lucrative profits by utilizing a “weekend trading strategy”, so we look into his strategy’s picks. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We recently recommended several stocks partly inspired by legendary Bill Miller’s investor letter. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 in February after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind let’s take a peek at the fresh hedge fund action surrounding Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX).
How have hedgies been trading Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -17% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards QTRX over the last 18 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.
Among these funds, Millennium Management held the most valuable stake in Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX), which was worth $11.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Royce & Associates which amassed $9.6 million worth of shares. Portolan Capital Management, Bridger Management, and Sio Capital were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Sio Capital allocated the biggest weight to Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX), around 1.46% of its 13F portfolio. Portolan Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.95 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to QTRX.
Seeing as Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers that elected to cut their positions entirely by the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Peter S. Park’s Park West Asset Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $9.2 million in stock. James A. Silverman’s fund, Opaleye Management, also sold off its stock, about $3.1 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds by the end of the first quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX). These stocks are Luther Burbank Corporation (NASDAQ:LBC), Tucows Inc. (NYSE:TCX), Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTL), and Brookfield Property REIT Inc. (NASDAQ:BPYU). This group of stocks’ market caps match QTRX’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| LBC | 5 | 5784 | -4 |
| TCX | 10 | 54926 | 2 |
| CSTL | 9 | 49460 | 1 |
| BPYU | 12 | 9032 | -1 |
| Average | 9 | 29801 | -0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 9 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $30 million. That figure was $45 million in QTRX’s case. Brookfield Property REIT Inc. (NASDAQ:BPYU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Luther Burbank Corporation (NASDAQ:LBC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Quanterix Corporation (NASDAQ:QTRX) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 12.3% in 2020 through June 30th but still beat the market by 15.5 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on QTRX as the stock returned 49.1% in Q2 and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
