This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy Plexus Corp. (PLXS) – Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (BHE), TTM Technologies, Inc. (TTMI)

Is Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) going to take off soon? Investors who are in the know are taking a bullish view. The number of long hedge fund bets advanced by 1 in recent months.

To the average investor, there are many methods shareholders can use to track the equity markets. A pair of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can trounce the broader indices by a solid amount (see just how much).

Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. There are a number of incentives for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Now, we’re going to take a look at the key action regarding Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS).

How are hedge funds trading Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 11% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS). Royce & Associates has a $28 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Fisher Asset Management, managed by Ken Fisher, which held a $24 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that hold long positions include Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Consequently, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, initiated the largest position in Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS). Tudor Investment Corp had 0 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $0 million position during the quarter.

How have insiders been trading Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS)?

Bullish insider trading is most useful when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time frame, Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) has seen zero unique insiders buying, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS). These stocks are Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE), Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS), Raven Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAVN), TTM Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTMI), and Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:BHE). All of these stocks are in the printed circuit boards industry and their market caps are similar to PLXS’s market cap.