TASER International, Inc. (TASR): This Little-Known Metric Predicted The Gains

TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) has seen an increase in hedge fund interest recently.

To the average investor, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to watch publicly traded companies. A couple of the best 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 money managers can beat the market by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, let’s take a glance at the latest action surrounding TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR).

How have hedgies been trading TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 33% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the largest position in TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR), worth close to $13.6 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is GMT Capital, managed by Thomas E. Claugus, which held a $4.7 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners.

As industrywide interest jumped, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. TCS Capital Management, managed by Eric Semler, established the most valuable position in TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR). TCS Capital Management had 2.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management also initiated a $2.2 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, and Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management.

Insider trading activity in TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ:TASR). These stocks are AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR), LMI Aerospace, Inc. (NASDAQ:LMIA), Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:SWHC), AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV), and Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). This group of stocks are the members of the aerospace/defense products & services industry and their market caps are similar to TASR’s market cap.