Looking for high-potential stocks? Just follow the big players within the hedge fund industry. Why should you do so? Let’s take a brief look at what statistics have to say about hedge funds’ stock picking abilities to illustrate. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index returned approximately 7.6% in the 12 months ending November 21, with more than 51% of the stocks in the index failing to beat the benchmark. Therefore, the odds that one will pin down a winner by randomly picking a stock are less than the odds in a fair coin-tossing game. Conversely, best performing hedge funds’ 30 preferred mid-cap stocks generated a return of 18% during the same 12-month period. Coincidence? It might happen to be so, but it is unlikely. Our research covering a 17-year period indicates that hedge funds’ stock picks generate superior risk-adjusted returns. That’s why we believe it is wise to check hedge fund activity before you invest your time or your savings on a stock like Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) (NYSE:MBT).
Hedge fund interest towards Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. At the end of this article we will also compare MBT to other stocks including The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS), and Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) to get a better sense of its popularity.
Follow Mobile Telesystems Ojsc (NYSE:MBT)
Follow Mobile Telesystems Ojsc (NYSE:MBT)
At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.
![wireless, telecoms, antenna, tower, broadcasting, station, cellular, building, sky, steel, telephone, technology, equipment, electromagnetic, mobile, architecture, transmitter](https://imonkey-blog.imgix.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/23064245/shutterstock_226031854-750x500.jpg?auto=fortmat&fit=clip&expires=1755993600&width=480&height=320)
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Now, we’re going to review the key action regarding Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) (NYSE:MBT).
What does the smart money think about Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) (NYSE:MBT)?
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, unchanged over the quarter. By comparison, 13 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MBT heading into this year. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies holds the most valuable position in Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT). Renaissance Technologies has a $69.6 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, which holds a $61.4 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish comprise Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP and Simon Sadler’s Segantii Capital. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.
Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that got rid of their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital got rid of the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $23.9 million in stock, and Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $1.2 million worth of shares.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT). These stocks are The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS), Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG), and Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG). This group of stocks’ market values match MBT’s market value.
Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
---|---|---|---|
AES | 22 | 107548 | 3 |
SNPS | 22 | 417138 | 1 |
HOG | 26 | 521854 | 6 |
REG | 11 | 165475 | 5 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $303 million. That figure was $183 million in MBT’s case. Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) is the most popular stock in this table, while Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) is the least popular one with only 11 investors holding shares. Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) 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 Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.
Disclosure: none