The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge funds have been producing disappointing net returns in recent years, however that was partly due to the poor performance of small-cap stocks in general. Well, small-cap stocks finally turned the corner and have been beating the large-cap stocks by more than 10 percentage points over the last 5 months.This means the relevancy of hedge funds’ public filings became inarguable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) .
Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. RTEC investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with RTEC 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 National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA), Otonomy Inc (NASDAQ:OTIC), and Easterly Government Properties Inc (NYSE:DEA) to gather more data points.
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At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.
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Hedge fund activity in Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC)
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a gain of 11% from the second quarter of 2016. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards RTEC over the last 5 quarters. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Royce & Associates, led by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC). Royce & Associates has a $29.4 million position in the stock. Coming in second is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $10.9 million position. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions include Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital 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.
Consequently, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Hutchin Hill Capital, led by Neil Chriss, established the most outsized position in Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC). Hutchin Hill Capital had $1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new RTEC position is Mike Vranos’ Ellington.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC). These stocks are National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA), Otonomy Inc (NASDAQ:OTIC), Easterly Government Properties Inc (NYSE:DEA), and John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBSS). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble RTEC’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSA | 12 | 68930 | -9 |
| OTIC | 11 | 84280 | -1 |
| DEA | 8 | 51604 | -2 |
| JBSS | 14 | 81916 | 0 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $72 million. That figure was $87 million in RTEC’s case. John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBSS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Easterly Government Properties Inc (NYSE:DEA) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Rudolph Technologies Inc (NYSE:RTEC) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
Disclosure: None
