Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Geron Corporation (GERN)

Is Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) a good equity to bet on right now? We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks among hedge fund investors have historically outperformed the market after adjusting for known risk attributes. It’s not surprising given that hedge funds have access to better information and more resources to find the latest market-moving information.

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the third quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. At the end of this article we will also compare GERN to other stocks including Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LIND), Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc (NYSE:FMSA), and Fogo de Chao Inc (NASDAQ:FOGO) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, old financial vehicles of the past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation at present, Our experts look at the masters of this group, approximately 700 funds. These investment experts direct the lion’s share of the smart money’s total capital, and by shadowing their best investments, Insider Monkey has revealed many investment strategies that have historically surpassed the market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.

Now, let’s go over the fresh action encompassing Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN).

What does the smart money think about Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 0% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, James A. Silverman’s Opaleye Management has the number one position in Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN), worth close to $5 million, accounting for 2.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Opaleye Management’s heels is D. E. Shaw of D E Shaw, with a $2.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other professional money managers with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

Seeing as Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, logic holds that there exist a select few hedge funds that decided to sell off their positions entirely heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies cut the biggest position of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $6.4 million in stock, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.1 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).

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN). These stocks are Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LIND), Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc (NYSE:FMSA), Fogo de Chao Inc (NASDAQ:FOGO), and Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to GERN’s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
LIND 15 68545 15
FMSA 7 9468 0
FOGO 9 18770 -1
BZH 19 125469 1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $56 million. That figure was $14 million in GERN’s case. Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE::BZH) is the most popular stock in this table, while Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc (NYSE:FMSA) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) is not the least popular stock in this group, but still has not attracted much attention from investors. This is a slightly negative signal, and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are collectively the fondest of, such as BZH in this particular case.