What’s a smart Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR) investor to do?
To many investors, hedge funds are assumed to be overrated, old financial vehicles of an era lost to time. Although there are over 8,000 hedge funds in operation today, Insider Monkey looks at the bigwigs of this group, about 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group controls the majority of the smart money’s total assets, and by tracking their highest performing investments, we’ve deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).
Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are a number of stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).
What’s more, it’s important to analyze the latest info for Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR).
What does the smart money think about Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 18% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.
When using filings from the hedgies we track, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management had the most valuable position in Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR), worth close to $67.4 million, comprising 0.7% of Seymour Sy Kaufman its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $26.8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Seymour Sy Kaufman and Michael Stark’s Crosslink Capital and Peter A. Wright’s P.A.W. CAPITAL PARTNERS.
As aggregate interest spiked, particular hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Soros Fund Management, managed by George Soros, established the biggest position in Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR). Soros Fund Management had 67.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates also made a $26.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EXAR investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Seymour Sy Kaufman and Michael Stark’s Crosslink Capital, and Peter A. Wright’s P.A.W. CAPITAL PARTNERS.
Insider trading activity in Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR)
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR). These stocks are Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:VLTR), Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL), Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR), Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB), and Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (NASDAQ:AMCC). This group of stocks are in the semiconductor – integrated circuits industry and their market caps are closest to EXAR’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:VLTR) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Micrel, Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCRL) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (NASDAQ:AMCC) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
Using the returns shown by Insider Monkey’s studies, average investors should always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Exar Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAR) applies perfectly to this mantra.
