What Smart Money Thinks of SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC)?

You probably know from experience that there is not as much information on small-cap companies as there is on large companies. Of course, this makes it really hard and difficult for individual investors to make proper and accurate analysis of certain small-cap companies. However, well-known and successful hedge fund investors like Carl Icahn and George Soros hold the necessary resources and abilities to conduct an extensive stock analysis on small-cap stocks, which enable them to make millions of dollars by identifying potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks. This represents the main reason why Insider Monkey takes notice of the hedge fund activity in these overlooked stocks.

In this article, we are going to discuss the hedge fund activity surrounding SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC), Overall, it looks like money managers are in a bullish mood, as the number of bullish hedge fund bets increased by three lately. 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 McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC), Spectra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:SEP), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) to gather more data points.

At Insider Monkey, we’ve developed an investment strategy that has delivered market-beating returns over the past 12 months. Our strategy identifies the 100 best-performing funds of the previous quarter from among the collection of 700+ successful funds that we track in our database, which we accomplish using our returns methodology. We then study the portfolios of those 100 funds using the latest 13F data to uncover the 30 most popular mid-cap stocks (market caps of between $1 billion and $10 billion) among them to hold until the next filing period. This strategy delivered 18% gains over the past 12 months, more than doubling the 8% returns enjoyed by the S&P 500 ETFs.

hin255/Shutterstock.com

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to view the recent action encompassing SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC).

What does the smart money think about SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC)?

At the end of the third quarter, 43 funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long SBA Communications Corporation, up by 8% over the quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital has the number one position in SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC), worth close to $278.5 million, amounting to 4.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is SPO Advisory Corp, led by John H. Scully, holding a $260.9 million position; the fund has 4.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions consist of Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Eric W. Mandelblatt’s Soroban Capital Partners, and Sharlyn C. Heslam’s Stockbridge Partners.

Consequently, key money managers have jumped into SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) headfirst. Folger Hill Asset Management, managed by Solomon Kumin, assembled the biggest position in SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC). Folger Hill Asset Management had $22.6 million invested in the company at the end of September. James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management also made a $17.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, and George Hall’s Clinton Group.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC). We will take a look at McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC), Spectra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:SEP), Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV), and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble SBAC’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 investors with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $234 million, which is significantly lower than the $2.36 billion in SBAC’s case. Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) is the most popular stock in this table, while Spectra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:SEP) is the least popular one with only nine investors holding shares. Compared to these stocks, SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:SBAC) 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.