Is Syneron Medical Ltd. (ELOS) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Is Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS) undervalued? Money managers are betting on the stock. The number of long hedge fund bets moved up by 1 in recent months.

Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS)

According to most stock holders, hedge funds are seen as slow, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open at present, we at Insider Monkey hone in on the masters of this club, close to 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group controls the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by paying attention to their highest performing stock picks, we have figured out a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the broader indices. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have trumped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. As the old adage goes: there are many motivations for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the key action surrounding Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS).

Hedge fund activity in Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 8% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Baupost Group, managed by Seth Klarman, holds the biggest position in Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS). Baupost Group has a $40.9 million position in the stock, comprising 1.3% of its 13F portfolio. On Baupost Group’s heels is Jacob Gottlieb of Visium Asset Management, with a $23 million position; the fund has 0.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors.

Consequently, key hedge funds have jumped into Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS) headfirst. Hutchin Hill Capital, managed by Neil Chriss, initiated the largest position in Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS). Hutchin Hill Capital had 0.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last half-year time period, Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS) has seen zero 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 Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS). These stocks are GenMark Diagnostics, Inc (NASDAQ:GNMK), Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NYSEAMEX:NAVB), Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BABY), PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ:PHMD), and Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY). This group of stocks are in the medical appliances & equipment industry and their market caps match ELOS’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
GenMark Diagnostics, Inc (NASDAQ:GNMK) 9 0 6
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NYSEAMEX:NAVB) 4 5 0
Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BABY) 16 1 5
PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ:PHMD) 5 0 2
Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ:ARAY) 17 2 2

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Syneron Medical Ltd. (NASDAQ:ELOS) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds