How do we determine whether Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.
Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. RYAAY was in 21 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 19 hedge funds in our database with RYAAY holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare RYAAY to other stocks including Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a gander at the new action encompassing Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY).
What have hedge funds been doing with Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)?
Heading into Q4, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 11% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). Renaissance Technologies has a $261.4 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Michael Hintze of CQS Cayman LP, with a $51.8 million position; 4.3% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers that hold long positions contain Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP and Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors.
Now, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Farallon Capital, managed by Thomas Steyer, initiated the biggest position in Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY). Farallon Capital had $42.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP also made a $24.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new RYAAY positions are Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA), and Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW). This group of stocks’ market values match RYAAY’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCCO | 10 | 92761 | 0 |
| CNQ | 28 | 988679 | 5 |
| EA | 51 | 2377080 | 4 |
| GLW | 38 | 957931 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 31.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1104 million. That figure was $458 million in RYAAY’s case. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard EA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
