Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) is flat today after the company announced on Thursday that it has now sold more than 40 million units of the latest version of its flagship gaming console, the PlayStation 4. Despite gaming analysts predicting a decade ago that we wouldn’t even see a PS4 and that console gaming would be dead by now, Sony’s console is actually outpacing the sales of its previous three iterations, including the 150-million-unit-selling PS2. Sony expects to ship 20 million consoles during its 2016 fiscal year, which began April 1, 2016 and ends March 31, 2017. PS4 software sales stand at 270.9 million as of May 22. The gaming division’s strong performance has been a huge boon for Sony, with the division’s operating profit expected to account for half of that of the entire company for the ongoing fiscal year.
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Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. SNE was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 20 hedge funds in our database with SNE holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare SNE to other stocks including Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU), Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE:BDX), and Liberty Global PLC LiLAC Class C (NASDAQ:LILAK) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the biggest position in Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE). Renaissance Technologies has a $50.8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Israel Englander of Millennium Management, with a $15 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other members of the smart money with similar optimism comprise David Halpert’s Prince Street Capital Management, D E Shaw, founded by David E. Shaw, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.
On the next page we’ll look at some funds that sold out off positions in Sony during Q1, as well as compare the stock to a handful of others with similar market caps.
Seeing as Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few fund managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes by the end of the first quarter. At the top of the heap, Allan Mecham and Ben Raybould’s Arlington Value Capital dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth close to $32.8 million in call options, and Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $29.2 million worth of shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds during the first quarter.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE). We will take a look at Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU), Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE:BDX), Liberty Global PLC LiLAC Class C (NASDAQ:LILAK), and LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK). This group of stocks’ market caps match SNE’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRU | 33 | 811340 | 6 |
| BDX | 32 | 964784 | 1 |
| LILAK | 31 | 458439 | -4 |
| LBTYK | 60 | 6733263 | -14 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 39 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.24 billion. That figure was $280 million in SNE’s case. LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (NASDAQ:LBTYK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Liberty Global PLC LiLAC Class C (NASDAQ:LILAK) is the least popular one with only 31 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) is even less popular than LILAK. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. However, it should be noted that ADR stocks are typically not invested in very heavily by the funds that we track.
Disclosure: None
