The shares of PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) started the day with a decrease in investor sentiment, trading at $39.02, a 4.32% decline in the price of shares. The technology company announced preliminary results for its fiscal third quarter of 2015, with earnings exceeding market expectations. The enterprise solution company is expecting earnings per share of $0.51 to $0.52 for the quarter against market expectations of $0.49. However, PTC Inc issued a lower revenue guidance of $303 million, which is lower than the market’s estimate of $309.5 million. The company will disclose detailed fiscal third quarter results on July 29. If the EPS estimates come out to be true, PTC Inc will beat the market’s earnings estimates in two consecutive quarters. The technology solution company reported earnings per share of $0.53 in its previous quarter against market estimates of $0.47.
While announcing the preliminary results, James Heppelmann, President and CEO of PTC Inc, said, “PTC preliminary third quarter non-GAAP earnings are above the high end of our guidance despite revenue coming in just below our guidance range…” The shares of PTC Inc (NASDAQ:PTC) have grown by 6.06% year-to-date and the company trades at a P/E ratio of 41.10. Smart money has been bearish on the stock of the technology company as of late, with 22 hedge fund managers holding aggregate investments of $396.20 million at the end of the first quarter, which was lower than their holdings worth $422.18 million, held by 27 hedge fund managers at the end of the last quarter of 2014.
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A similar sentiment was noticed among the insiders of the company, with at least 11 insider sales in the last six months, though it should be noted that insider sales can not be considered bearish activity per se. Heppelmann was among the leading insiders selling some of their stakes, as he sold 25,000 shares each on February 2 and May 4.
Negative hedge fund sentiment signals an expectation of lower growth, although the hedge fund managers have been proven wrong on several occasions. Let’s find out the hedge fund sentiment around PTC Inc.
What does Smart Money think about PTC Inc?
Heading into the second quarter, a total of 22 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish in this stock, a decline of 19% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.
At the end of the first quarter, Ricky Sandler of Eminence Capital was the largest stockholder of PTC Inc in our database. His position in the technology company included 1.86 million shares with a market value of $67.24 million and the position accounting for 1.04% of his overall portfolio value. Robert Pitts’ Steadfast Capital Management came at number two in the list of hedge fund investors, with a holding of $57.65 million from 1.59 million shares. Some of the other leadinginvestors of the company included Fir Tree, founded by Jeffrey Tannenbaum, Claus Moller’s P2 Capital Partners, and Paul Marshall & Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP. Fir Tree came at number two in the list of hedge fund initiating new positions in the company after Eminence Capital, with a holding valued at $53.24 million from owning 1.47 million shares of the company.
Considering bearish hedge fund sentiment and lower-than-expected revenue growth, we do not recommend a buy of PTC at this time.
Disclosure: None