Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC) investors should be aware of a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately; in our experience, stagnant hedge fund interest can be taken as a bearish indicator.
To most investors, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, outdated financial tools of yesteryear. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we look at the top tier of this club, about 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of the smart money’s total capital, and by watching their highest performing equity investments, we have uncovered a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 24 percentage points in 7 months (see the details here).
Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action encompassing Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC).
What does the smart money think about Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC)?
Heading into 2013, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the largest position in Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC), worth close to $4.1 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Algert Coldiron Investors, managed by Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron, which held a $0.7 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Michael Price’s MFP Investors and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
What do corporate executives and insiders think about Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC)?
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time period, Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC). These stocks are The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MHP), Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL), and Noah Education Holdings Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:NED). This group of stocks are in the publishing – books industry and their market caps match CRRC’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MHP) | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ:SCHL) | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| Noah Education Holdings Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:NED) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Courier Corporation (NASDAQ:CRRC) applies perfectly to this mantra.
