Is Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) a good equity to bet on right now? We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks among hedge fund investors have historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk attributes. It’s not surprising given that hedge funds have access to better information and more resources to find the latest market-moving information.
Is Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) the right pick for your portfolio? Investors who are in the know are in an optimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund positions increased by 3 in recent months. At the end of this article we will also compare RYAAY to other stocks including Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP), Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC), and AMERCO (NASDAQ:UHAL) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Ryanair Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY)
Follow Ryanair Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY)
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.
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to view the latest action regarding Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY).
What does the smart money think about Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 24 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a jump of 14% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies holds the largest position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). According to regulatory filings, the fund has a $171.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Wildcat Capital Management, led by Leonard A. Potter, holding a $86.4 million position; 20.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that hold long positions comprise Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC and Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners.
As one would reasonably expect, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Valinor Management LLC, managed by David Gallo, created the largest position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). The fund reportedly had $32.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners also made a $17.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, Simon Sadler’s Segantii Capital, and Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP), Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC), AMERCO (NASDAQ:UHAL), and Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS). This group of stocks’ market valuations match RYAAY’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BIP | 6 | 39373 | -1 |
| RRC | 46 | 1199389 | 7 |
| UHAL | 22 | 340676 | -1 |
| CDNS | 26 | 611713 | -3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $548 million. That figure was $475 million in RYAAY’s case. Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard RRC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
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Disclosure: None
