Why Shares of Chico’s FAS, Inc. (CHS) Are Down on Thursday

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Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS)’s shares have retreated by more than 3% out of the gate after the company’s first-quarter results came in below expectations. For the period, Chico’s FAS posted a net income of $0.25 per share on sales of $643 million, missing estimates by $0.06 per share and $24.86 million. Sales declined by 7.9% year-over-year due to a 4.2% drop in comparable sales and 15 net store closures. The gross margin was 40.8% versus 42.4% in last year’s first quarter. The company bought $36.6 million worth of its own shares back in the quarter, however. Management is trying to right the ship by increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

Is Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) a healthy stock for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are getting more optimistic and the number of long hedge fund positions improved by three in recent months. In this way, CHS was in the equity portfolios of 25 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey at the end of the first quarter of 2016. However, 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 TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO), Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR), and Diplomat Pharmacy Inc (NYSE:DPLO) to gather more data points.

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According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Blue Harbour Group, managed by Clifton S. Robbins, holds the most valuable position in Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS). Blue Harbour Group has a $54.2 million position in the stock, comprising 1.8% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, which holds a $51.6 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other peers with similar optimism consist of Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

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