Is QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) a first-rate investment now? Prominent investors are becoming hopeful. The number of bullish hedge fund positions rose by 1 in recent months.
Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are lots of reasons for an executive to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, let’s take a peek at the latest action surrounding QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).
What have hedge funds been doing with QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)?
In preparation for the 2nd quarter, a total of 96 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 1% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably.
According to our comprehensive database, Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, holds the biggest position in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). Fisher Asset Management has a $598 million position in the stock, comprising 1.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, which held a $578.3 million position; 3.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers that are bullish include Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Panayotis Takis Sparaggis’s Alkeon Capital Management and David Blood and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management.
As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Alkeon Capital Management, managed by Panayotis Takis Sparaggis, assembled the most valuable position in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). Alkeon Capital Management had 323.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Tannenbaum’s Fir Tree also initiated a $280.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, and John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management.
Insider trading activity in QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 17 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). These stocks are Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS), Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI), and Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC). This group of stocks belong to the communication equipment industry and their market caps are similar to QCOM’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) | 25 | 0 | 8 |
| Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) | 17 | 0 | 7 |
| Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) | 39 | 0 | 6 |
| Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
With the results exhibited by the aforementioned studies, retail investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
