RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund interest lately.
Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. As the old adage goes: there are a number of motivations for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the recent action regarding RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH).
How are hedge funds trading RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.
According to our comprehensive database, Highfields Capital Management, managed by Jonathon Jacobson, holds the most valuable position in RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH). Highfields Capital Management has a $10.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chou Associates Management, managed by Francis Chou, which held a $4.3 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Michael Kao’s Akanthos Capital and Pasco Alfaro / Richard Tumure’s Miura Global Management.
Because RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely in Q1. Intriguingly, Richard C. Patton’s Courage Capital dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies we watch, comprising close to $1 million in call options. Nick Niell’s fund, Arrowgrass Capital Partners, also dumped its stock, about $0.9 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time frame, RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, 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 RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH). These stocks are Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY), GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), CONN’S, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN), , and hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE:HGG). All of these stocks are in the electronics stores industry and their market caps resemble RSH’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) | 36 | 0 | 4 |
| GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) | 26 | 0 | 1 |
| CONN’S, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) | 19 | 1 | 13 |
| hhgregg, Inc. (NYSE:HGG) | 12 | 0 | 1 |
With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned studies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and RadioShack Corporation (NYSE:RSH) is an important part of this process.
