Before we spend many hours researching a company, we’d like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. We would like to do so because the elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL).
Is Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL) a healthy stock for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets moved up by 1 recently. Our calculations also showed that ocsl isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. OCSL was in 14 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2018. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with OCSL positions at the end of the previous quarter.
Today there are plenty of gauges market participants use to assess publicly traded companies. A duo of the most innovative gauges are hedge fund and insider trading interest. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see the details here).
We’re going to analyze the recent hedge fund action surrounding Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL).
Hedge fund activity in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL)
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 8% from the second quarter of 2018. By comparison, 18 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in OCSL heading into this year. So, let’s check out which hedge funds were among the top holders of the stock and which hedge funds were making big moves.
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Brian Gaines’s Springhouse Capital Management has the number one position in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL), worth close to $37 million, comprising 21.4% of its total 13F portfolio. On Springhouse Capital Management’s heels is Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, which holds a $8.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish comprise Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
Now, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Element Capital Management, managed by Jeffrey Talpins, created the biggest position in Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL). Element Capital Management had $0.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM), Civeo Corporation (NYSE:CVEO), DXP Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:DXPE), and Upland Software Inc (NASDAQ:UPLD). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble OCSL’s market valuation.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSM | 11 | 31756 | 1 |
| CVEO | 12 | 260239 | 0 |
| DXPE | 12 | 55449 | 2 |
| UPLD | 20 | 102948 | -1 |
| Average | 13.75 | 112598 | 0.5 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $113 million. That figure was $64 million in OCSL’s case. Upland Software Inc (NASDAQ:UPLD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:OCSL) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard UPLD might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
