This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy Celestica Inc. (USA) (CLS)

Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS) was in 10 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2013. CLS investors should be aware of an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with CLS holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are plenty of gauges shareholders can use to monitor stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders understand where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the key action surrounding Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS).

How have hedgies been trading Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS)?

Heading into Q2, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 11% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Dreman Value Management, managed by David Dreman, holds the most valuable position in Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS). Dreman Value Management has a $8 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, which held a $5.3 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include John Thiessen’s Vertex One Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

Now, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Hutchin Hill Capital, managed by Neil Chriss, assembled the most outsized position in Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS). Hutchin Hill Capital had 0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also initiated a $0.2 million position during the quarter.

What have insiders been doing with Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last six-month time period, Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS). These stocks are Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE), TTM Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTMI), Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS), Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE), and Raven Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAVN). This group of stocks are in the printed circuit boards industry and their market caps are closest to CLS’s market cap.

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s research, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds