Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

We can judge whether Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) is a good investment right now by following the lead of some of the best investors in the world and piggybacking their ideas. There’s no better way to get these firms’ immense resources and analytical capabilities working for us than to follow their lead into their best ideas. While not all of these picks will be winners, research shows that these picks historically outperformed the market when we factor in known risk factors.

Is Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) a good investment right now? Prominent investors are becoming more confident. The number of bullish hedge fund bets improved by 2 in recent months. At the end of this article we will also compare CLVS to other stocks including Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX), Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc (NASDAQ:BUFF), and Healthsouth Corp. (NYSE:HLS) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Keeping this in mind, we’re going to review the fresh action surrounding Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS).

What have hedge funds been doing with Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 31 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 7% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, William Leland Edwards’s Palo Alto Investors has the largest position in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS), worth close to $285.9 million, corresponding to 13.7% of its total 13F portfolio. On Palo Alto Investors’s heels is Partner Fund Management, managed by Christopher James, which holds a $234.8 million position; the fund has 6.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers that hold long positions consist of Eric Chen’s Antipodean Advisors, Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors and Jeremy Green’s Redmile Group.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Antipodean Advisors, managed by Eric Chen, created the biggest position in Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). Antipodean Advisors had $120.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global also made a $76.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CLVS positions are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). We will take a look at Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX), Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc (NASDAQ:BUFF), HEALTHSOUTH Corp. (NYSE:HLS), and DealerTrack Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TRAK). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble CLVS’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
RAX 30 614200 -7
BUFF 24 153784 24
HLS 22 471224 -3
TRAK 32 684733 7

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $481 million. That figure was $1216 million in CLVS’s case. DealerTrack Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TRAK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand HEALTHSOUTH Corp. (NYSE:HLS) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard TRAK might be a better candidate to consider a long position.