Is it smart to be bullish on Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB)?
At the moment, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to track stocks. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outpace the market by a significant amount (see just how much).
Equally as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. Obviously, there are a number of stimuli for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss the latest info for Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB).
How have hedgies been trading Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 43% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB), worth close to $44.3 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $2.1 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
As one would understandably expect, certain money managers were breaking ground themselves. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, created the most valuable position in Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB). Royce & Associates had 44.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $2.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.
How have insiders been trading Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB)?
Insider buying is most useful when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB). These stocks are Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM), G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII), American Apparel Inc. (NYSEAMEX:APP), True Religion Apparel, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRLG), and Perry Ellis International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PERY). All of these stocks are in the textile – apparel clothing industry and their market caps are similar to MFB’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| American Apparel Inc. (NYSEAMEX:APP) | 0 | 0 | |
| True Religion Apparel, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRLG) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Perry Ellis International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PERY) | 12 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by our analyses, regular investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Maidenform Brands, Inc. (MFB) Anymore
