Hedge Funds Are Dumping AlarmCom Hldg Inc (ALRM)

Hedge funds run by legendary names like Nelson Peltz and David Tepper make billions of dollars a year for themselves and their super-rich accredited investors (you’ve got to have a minimum of $1 million liquid to invest in a hedge fund) by spending enormous resources on analyzing and uncovering data about small-cap stocks that the big brokerage houses don’t follow. Small caps are where they can generate significant out-performance. That’s why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.

AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money of late. ALRM was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with ALRM holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR), Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH), and TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX) to gather more data points.

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If you’d ask most traders, hedge funds are perceived as unimportant, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are more than an 8000 funds trading at the moment, Our researchers hone in on the bigwigs of this group, approximately 700 funds. These investment experts have their hands on bulk of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by paying attention to their matchless picks, Insider Monkey has formulated a few investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outrun the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points annually for a decade in their back tests.

Keeping this in mind, we’re going to view the recent action encompassing AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM).

Hedge fund activity in AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM)

Heading into Q4, a total of 5 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -55% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Akre Capital Management, managed by Charles Akre, holds the number one position in AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM). Akre Capital Management has a $4.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Alyeska Investment Group, led by Anand Parekh, holding a $0.6 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers that are bullish comprise Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Since AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM) has faced a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. Interestingly, Glen Kacher’s Light Street Capital sold off the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $3.8 million in stock. Curtis Macnguyen’s fund, Ivory Capital (Investment Mgmt), also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.7 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 6 funds last quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR), Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH), TG Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TGTX), and National Interstate Corporation (NASDAQ:NATL). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble ALRM’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ESPR 18 140275 -10
AMPH 12 26198 0
TGTX 10 112681 -3
NATL 5 47849 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $82 million. That figure was just $6 million in ALRM’s case. Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand National Interstate Corporation (NASDAQ:NATL) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks AlarmCom Hldg Inc (NASDAQ:ALRM) enjoys the same level of popularity as NATL. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies mentioned in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock.