Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and famous investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds and investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find write-ups about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves and analyze what the smart money thinks of Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO) based on that data.
Aptose Biosciences Inc shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the third quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. At the end of this article we will also compare APTO to other stocks including Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:CYTX), Profire Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFIE), and LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF) to get a better sense of its popularity.
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old investment tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at the moment, Our researchers look at the bigwigs of this club, approximately 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors watch over most of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by tracking their unrivaled equity investments, Insider Monkey has spotted various investment strategies that have historically surpassed the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per annum for a decade in their back tests.
Keeping this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the fresh action surrounding Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO).
How have hedgies been trading Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 6 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, unchanged from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Bihua Chen’s Cormorant Asset Management has the largest position in Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO), worth close to $4.7 million, accounting for 0.8% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Mark Lampert of Biotechnology Value Fund / BVF Inc, with a $0.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism include Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors, Adam Usdan’s Trellus Management Company and Nathan Fischel’s DAFNA Capital Management.
Earlier we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and they haven’t identified any viable catalysts that can attract investor attention.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:CYTX), Profire Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFIE), LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF), and Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRBP). All of these stocks’ market caps match APTO’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| CYTX | 4 | 1254 | -2 |
| PFIE | 5 | 2535 | 0 |
| LF | 12 | 5276 | -5 |
| CRBP | 4 | 6404 | 1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $4 million. That figure was $5 million in APTO’s case. LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Cytori Therapeutics Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:CYTX) and Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRBP) are the outsiders, with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Aptose Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APTO) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is only 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 LF might be a better candidate to consider a long position.