Rambus Inc. (RMBS): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are seen as unimportant, outdated financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the aristocrats of this club, about 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by keeping an eye on their top investments, we have determined a number of investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (explore the details and some picks here).

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a number of motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a glance at the key action encompassing Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS).

What does the smart money think about Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS)?

At year’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.

Of the funds we track, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management had the largest position in Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), worth close to $6 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On Millennium Management’s heels is Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $2.8 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Seeing as Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) has witnessed a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there were a few funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in Q4. At the top of the heap, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments said goodbye to the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we watch, totaling about $0.3 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time frame, Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS). These stocks are Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ:NLST), SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS), Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI), and Spansion Inc. (NYSE:CODE). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor- memory chips industry and their market caps match RMBS’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s research, everyday investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) is no exception.

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