Where Do Hedge Funds Stand On CalAmp Corp. (CAMP)?

In this article we will check out the progression of hedge fund sentiment towards CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) and determine whether it is a good investment right now. We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before spending days of research on it. Given their 2 and 20 payment structure, hedge funds have more incentives and resources than the average investor. The funds have access to expert networks and get tips from industry insiders. They also employ numerous Ivy League graduates and MBAs. Like everyone else, hedge funds perform miserably at times, but their consensus picks have historically outperformed the market after risk adjustments.

CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) has experienced a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently. CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2020. The all time high for this statistics is 17. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with CAMP holdings at the end of June. Our calculations also showed that CAMP isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks).

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

In the eyes of most shareholders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at the moment, We hone in on the masters of this group, approximately 850 funds. These hedge fund managers oversee most of all hedge funds’ total capital, and by following their matchless equity investments, Insider Monkey has uncovered a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s flagship short hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points per annum since its inception in March 2017. Our portfolio of short stocks lost 13% since February 2017 (through November 17th) even though the market was up 65% during the same period. We just shared a list of 6 short targets in our latest quarterly update .

Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates

At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, Federal Reserve has been creating trillions of dollars electronically to keep the interest rates near zero. We believe this will lead to inflation and boost real estate prices. So, we recommended this real estate stock to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 15 best blue chip stocks to pick the best large-cap stocks to buy. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our website. Now let’s view the key hedge fund action encompassing CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP).

Do Hedge Funds Think CAMP Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At third quarter’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -15% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards CAMP over the last 21 quarters. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

More specifically, Lynrock Lake was the largest shareholder of CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP), with a stake worth $159.8 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Lynrock Lake was Trigran Investments, which amassed a stake valued at $14.2 million. Royce & Associates, Arrowstreet Capital, and Renaissance Technologies were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Lynrock Lake allocated the biggest weight to CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP), around 11.89% of its 13F portfolio. Trigran Investments is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 2.58 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CAMP.

Since CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) has witnessed bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jeffrey Moskowitz’s Harvey Partners dropped the biggest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $0.9 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dropped its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds last quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) but similarly valued. These stocks are Hanmi Financial Corp (NASDAQ:HAFC), CNB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCNE), Aspen Group Inc. (NASDAQ:ASPU), AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI), Northern Oil & Gas, Inc. (NYSE:NOG), Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC), and Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to CAMP’s market valuation.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 9.4 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $26 million. That figure was $190 million in CAMP’s case. Retail Value Inc. (NYSE:RVI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Enterprise Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTC) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ:CAMP) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for CAMP is 57. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 20 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.3% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10 percentage points. These stocks gained 32.9% in 2020 through December 8th and still beat the market by 16.2 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on CAMP as the stock returned 38.2% since the end of Q3 (through 12/8) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.