Is OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (OMED) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

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. These stocks have been on a tear since the end of June, outperforming large-cap index funds by more than 10 percentage points. That’s why we pay special attention to hedge fund activity in these stocks.

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest of late. There were 8 hedge funds in our database with OMED 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 Organovo Holdings Inc (NYSEMKT:ONVO), Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI), and Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) to gather more data points.

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Now, we’re going to view the fresh action surrounding OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED).

How have hedgies been trading OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a jump of 75% from one quarter earlier. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in OMED over the last 5 quarters. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

HedgeFundSentimentChart (108)

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Biotechnology Value Fund / BVF Inc, led by Mark Lampert, holds the largest position in OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED). According to regulatory filings, the fund has a $20.7 million position in the stock, comprising 3.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Anand Parekh of Alyeska Investment Group, with a $10 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism comprise Stuart Weisbrod’s Iguana Healthcare Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Oleg Nodelman’s EcoR1 Capital. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-microcap stocks.

Now, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. EcoR1 Capital, led by Oleg Nodelman, initiated the largest position in OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED). According to its latest 13F filing, the fund had $3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, also made a $2.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new OMED investors: Behzad Aghazadeh’s venBio Select Advisor, Warren Lammert’s Granite Point Capital, and Stuart Weisbrod’s Iguana Healthcare Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Organovo Holdings Inc (NYSEMKT:ONVO), Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI), Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU), and Corenergy Infrastructure Trust Inc (NYSE:CORR). This group of stocks’ market values resemble OMED’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ONVO 9 3356 2
KPTI 8 41728 2
BKMU 6 15669 0
CORR 7 38593 3

As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $25 million. That figure was $57 million in OMED’s case. Organovo Holdings Inc (NYSEMKT:ONVO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Bank Mutual Corporation (NASDAQ:BKMU) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OMED) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: none.