Where Do Hedge Funds Stand On Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (WSTG)?

In this article you are going to find out whether hedge funds think Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG) is a good investment right now. We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research on a given stock. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks among hedge fund investors have historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk attributes. It’s not surprising given that hedge funds have access to better information and more resources to predict the winners in the stock market.

Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG) investors should be aware of an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately. Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG) was in 3 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. The all time high for this statistic is 3. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that WSTG isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings).

In the financial world there are a large number of tools investors have at their disposal to grade stocks. A pair of the most under-the-radar tools are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a solid amount. Insider Monkey’s monthly stock picks returned 206.8% since March 2017 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 115 percentage points (see the details here). That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is a useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

Fred DiSanto of Ancora Advisors

At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, an activist hedge fund wants to buy this $28 biotech stock for $50. So, we recommended a long position to our monthly premium newsletter subscribers. We go through lists like the 10 best battery stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. 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 homepage. With all of this in mind we’re going to check out the fresh hedge fund action regarding Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG).

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

At the end of March, a total of 3 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 50% from one quarter earlier. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards WSTG over the last 23 quarters. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Renaissance Technologies, holds the most valuable position in Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG). Renaissance Technologies has a $7.4 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Ancora Advisors, managed by Frederick DiSanto, which holds a $2.1 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position 0 allocated the biggest weight to Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG), around 2.19% of its 13F portfolio. 0 is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 0.06 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to WSTG.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Roumell Asset Management, managed by Jim Roumell, established the largest position in Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG). Roumell Asset Management had $1.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG). These stocks are Manning and Napier Inc (NYSE:MN), Reading International, Inc. (NASDAQ:RDI), Citizens Holding Company (NASDAQ:CIZN), Exterran Corporation (NYSE:EXTN), Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc (NYSE:BBW), Smart Sand, Inc. (NASDAQ:SND), and Vascular Biogenics Ltd. (NASDAQ:VBLT). All of these stocks’ market caps match WSTG’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 7.3 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $10 million. That figure was $11 million in WSTG’s case. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc (NYSE:BBW) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Citizens Holding Company (NASDAQ:CIZN) is the least popular one with only 1 bullish hedge fund positions. Wayside Technology Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WSTG) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for WSTG is 43.7. 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 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 17.2% in 2021 through June 11th and still beat the market by 3.3 percentage points. A small number of hedge funds were also right about betting on WSTG as the stock returned 8.8% since the end of the first quarter (through 6/11) and outperformed the market by an even larger margin.

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