Hedge Funds and other institutional investors have just completed filing their 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their equity portfolios as of the end of September. At Insider Monkey, we follow nearly 900 active hedge funds and notable investors and by analyzing their 13F filings, we can determine the stocks that they are collectively bullish on. One of their picks is WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), so let’s take a closer look at the sentiment that surrounds it in the current quarter.
WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest lately. WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) was in 27 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic is 34. There were 23 hedge funds in our database with WCC positions at the end of the second quarter. Our calculations also showed that WCC isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings).
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Keeping this in mind let’s take a glance at the key hedge fund action encompassing WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC).
William Harnisch of Peconic Partners LLC
Do Hedge Funds Think WCC Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At the end of September, a total of 27 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 17% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in WCC over the last 25 quarters. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Leonard Green & Partners was the largest shareholder of WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), with a stake worth $657.3 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Leonard Green & Partners was Peconic Partners LLC, which amassed a stake valued at $220.8 million. Adage Capital Management, 40 North Management, and Arrowstreet 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 Peconic Partners LLC allocated the biggest weight to WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), around 19.59% of its 13F portfolio. Lodge Hill Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, dishing out 6 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to WCC.
With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) headfirst. 40 North Management, managed by David S. Winter and David J. Millstone, established the most outsized position in WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC). 40 North Management had $39.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Gregg Moskowitz’s Interval Partners also initiated a $25.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Doug Gordon, Jon Hilsabeck and Don Jabro’s Shellback Capital, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Peter Avellone’s Cartenna Capital.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC). We will take a look at Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVBG), Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART), Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO), SPS Commerce, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPSC), Nextera Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NEP), Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM), and Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to WCC’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| EVBG | 23 | 1307891 | -3 |
| IART | 17 | 82913 | -2 |
| HALO | 23 | 179614 | 3 |
| SPSC | 17 | 178577 | -3 |
| NEP | 13 | 144605 | -9 |
| BEAM | 20 | 1244424 | -1 |
| UPWK | 35 | 418062 | 9 |
| Average | 21.1 | 508012 | -0.9 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 21.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $508 million. That figure was $1174 million in WCC’s case. Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Nextera Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NEP) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for WCC is 64.6. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 31.1% in 2021 through December 9th and still beat the market by 5.1 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on WCC as the stock returned 10.2% since the end of Q3 (through 12/9) 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.
