Hedge Funds Are Buying Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (RUTH)

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As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. McKinley Capital Management, managed by Robert B. Gillam, initiated the most outsized position in Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH). McKinley Capital Management had $5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also initiated a $0.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new RUTH positions are Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) but similarly valued. These stocks are John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBSS), Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU), Motorcar Parts of America, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPAA), and Gibraltar Industries Inc (NASDAQ:ROCK). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to RUTH’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
JBSS 10 43856 0
GLUU 21 106279 -3
MPAA 16 108608 -1
ROCK 20 131483 7

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $98 million. That figure was $30 million in RUTH’s case. Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBSS) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Ruth’s Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) 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 GLUU might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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