Hedge Funds Are Dumping Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (SYKE)

Because Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) has faced a bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management dropped the largest investment of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling about $1.7 million in stock, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.5 million worth of shares.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) but similarly valued. These stocks are Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA), Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:BNCL), The Fresh Market Inc (NASDAQ:TFM), and BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI). This group of stocks’ market values resemble SYKE’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $185 million. That figure was $81 million in SYKE’s case. Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) is the most popular stock in this table, while BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYKE) is even less popular than BJRI. 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. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.