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 Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) based on that data.
Is Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) a healthy stock for your portfolio? Money managers are turning less bullish. The number of bullish hedge fund positions decreased by one in recent months. Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was in 17 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 18 hedge funds in our database with Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI), and Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI) to gather more data points.
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If you’d ask most stock holders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are more than 8,000 funds with their doors open at present, we choose to focus on the upper echelon of this group, around 700 funds. These investment experts administer the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing stock picks, Insider Monkey has revealed various investment strategies that have historically defeated the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.
With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the new action surrounding Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS).
What does the smart money think about Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 17 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a decrease of 6% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Coatue Management, managed by Philippe Laffont, holds the largest position in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). Coatue Management has a $63.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.7% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting in the number 2 spot is Michael Pollack of Destrier Capital, with a $28.6 million position; 8.4% of his 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions comprise Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.
Judging by the fact that Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has experienced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of fund managers who sold off their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jason Karp’s Tourbillon Capital Partners sold off the largest investment of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, worth close to $8.7 million in stock. Joseph A. Jolson’s fund, Harvest Capital Strategies, also dumped its stock, about $7.9 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by one fund in the third quarter.
Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). These stocks are Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), First Midwest Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:FMBI), Pennsylvania R.E.I.T. (NYSE:PEI), and Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| RMBS | 16 | 58379 | 5 |
| FMBI | 14 | 84420 | 1 |
| PEI | 8 | 22888 | -4 |
| HMN | 6 | 51895 | -1 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $54 million. That figure was $157 million in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)’s case. Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) is the least popular one with only six bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
