Should You Follow Echinus Advisors Into MSCI, Other Top Stock Picks?

In Msci Inc (NYSE:MSCI), Echinus Advisors trimmed its holding by 10% during the second quarter, hanging on to 347,803 shares as of June 30. The position was valued at $26.82 million at that time and accounted for 9.69% of its equity portfolio’s value. The stock returned 9.2% during the third quarter. Hedge funds are generally optimistic about MSCI right now, as it was in 23 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June, up from 20 a quarter earlier. The largest stake in Msci Inc (NYSE:MSCI) was held by Darsana Capital Partners, which reported holding $154.2 million worth of stock at the end of June. It was followed by ValueAct Capital with a $100.3 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included AQR Capital Management, Marshall Wace LLP, and Junto Capital Management.

MFRM CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY 659,313 $ 22,120,000 7.99% 9.57% 6 26,317 -3%

Lastly is Mattress Firm Holding Corp (NASDAQ:MFRM), which was Echinus’ big score during the quarter, offsetting the pedestrian returns of its top two holdings. The stock returned 90.8% during the third quarter after it agreed to be acquired by Steinhoff. Echinus Advisors owned 659,313 shares of the stock at the end of June, valued at $22.12 million. Some of the other hedge funds in our system weren’t lucky enough to have held on to their positions, as a total of 15 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long the stock on June 30, a 17% decline from the end of the first quarter of 2016.

David S. Winter and David J. Millstone’s 40 North Management has the largest position in Mattress Firm Holding Corp (NASDAQ:MFRM), worth close to $133.7 million, amounting to 18.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On 40 North Management’s heels is Stockbridge Partners, managed by Sharlyn C. Heslam, which holds a $94.2 million position; the fund has 4.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors with similar optimism encompass Alan Fournier’s Pennant Capital Management and John Ku’s Manor Road Capital Partners.

Disclosure: None