Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has had an awful 2013. To put it simply, it’s not Priceline, and investors aren’t treating it as such. But the following data may change your mind.
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Equally as crucial, bullish insider trading activity is another way to look at the world of equities. There are many incentives for a corporate insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, let’s study the recent info about Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE).
How are hedge funds trading Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 43 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 34% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
According to our 13F database, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners had the biggest position in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), worth close to $162.5 million, accounting for 2.3% of its total 13F portfolio. On JANA Partners’s heels is Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, with a $117.4 million position; 0.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Dinakar Singh’s TPG-AXON Management LP, Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management and Michael Karsch’s Karsch Capital Management.
Consequently, specific money managers have jumped into Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) headfirst. JANA Partners, managed by Barry Rosenstein, initiated the largest position in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE). JANA Partners had 162.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also made a $117.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new EXPE investors: Dinakar Singh’s TPG-AXON Management LP, Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management, and Michael Karsch’s Karsch Capital Management.
What have insiders been doing with Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest half-year time period, Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has experienced 1 unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE). These stocks are Marriott International Inc (NYSE:MAR), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE:HOT), Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN), and InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG). This group of stocks are in the lodging industry and their market caps are closest to EXPE’s market cap.