We know that hedge funds generate strong, risk-adjusted returns over the long run, therefore imitating the picks that they are collectively bullish on can be a profitable strategy for retail investors. With billions of dollars in assets, smart money investors have to conduct complex analyses, spend many resources and use tools that are not always available for the general crowd. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have occasional colossal losses; they do (like Peltz’s recent General Electric losses). However, it is still good idea to keep an eye on hedge fund activity. With this in mind, as the current round of 13F filings has just ended, let’s examine the smart money sentiment towards Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN).
Is Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN) going to take off soon? Prominent investors are taking an optimistic view. The number of long hedge fund positions moved up by 1 lately. Our calculations also showed that WIN isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds.
In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s flagship best performing hedge funds strategy returned 6.3% year to date (through December 3rd) and outperformed the market even though it draws its stock picks among small-cap stocks. This strategy also outperformed the market by 18 percentage points since its inception (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.
We’re going to take a look at the recent hedge fund action regarding Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN).
What have hedge funds been doing with Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 5% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards WIN over the last 13 quarters. So, let’s see which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Elliott Management, managed by Paul Singer, holds the biggest position in Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN). Elliott Management has a $9.1 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $8.7 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions include Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP, and Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital.
Now, some big names have jumped into Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN) headfirst. CQS Cayman LP, managed by Michael Hintze, initiated the most valuable position in Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN). CQS Cayman LP had $5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Leon Shaulov’s Maplelane Capital also initiated a $4.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new WIN positions are Don Morgan’s Brigade Capital, Steve Ketchum’s Sound Point Capital, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN). We will take a look at OptimizeRx Corporation (NASDAQ:OPRX), Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY), Allot Ltd. (NASDAQ:ALLT), and Medley Capital Corp (NYSE:MCC). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to WIN’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPRX | 5 | 17775 | 3 |
| RCKY | 6 | 15920 | 0 |
| ALLT | 6 | 44081 | 0 |
| MCC | 6 | 19419 | 0 |
| Average | 5.75 | 24299 | 0.75 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 5.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $24 million. That figure was $43 million in WIN’s case. Rocky Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand OptimizeRx Corporation (NASDAQ:OPRX) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN) 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. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
