Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. SODA investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 9 hedge funds in our database with SODA positions at the end of the previous quarter.
If you’d ask most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old financial vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the upper echelon of this group, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing investments, we have come up with a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the S&P 500 index. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (explore the details and some picks here).
Just as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).
With all of this in mind, let’s take a look at the recent action encompassing Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA).
How have hedgies been trading Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 33% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings substantially.
According to our comprehensive database, Brett Barakett’s Tremblant Capital had the most valuable position in Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA), worth close to $65 million, comprising 3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Eric Bannasch of Cadian Capital, with a $61 million position; 1.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include John Murphy’s Alydar Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names have jumped into Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) headfirst. Cupps Capital Management, managed by Drew Cupps, created the most outsized position in Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA). Cupps Capital Management had 13 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners also made a $5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SODA positions are Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital.
How are insiders trading Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
With the results shown by our time-tested strategies, everyday investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
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