8×8, Inc. (EGHT): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Billionaire hedge fund managers such as Steve Cohen and Stan Druckenmiller can generate millions or even billions of dollars every year by pinning down high-potential small-cap stocks and pouring cash into these candidates. Small-cap stocks are overlooked by most investors, brokerage houses, and financial services hubs, while the unlimited research abilities of the big players within the hedge fund industry can easily identify the undervalued and high-potential stocks that reside the ignored corners of equity markets. There are numerous small-cap stocks that have turned out to be great winners, which is one of the main reasons the Insider Monkey team pays close attention to the hedge fund activity in relation to these stocks.

One stock that saw an increase in enthusiasm from smart money last quarter is 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT). Overall, the number of funds long the stock went up to 20 from 17. 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 Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO), TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), and Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ:ROVI) to gather more data points.

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Now, we’re going to take a peek at the new action regarding 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT).

How have hedgies been trading 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT)?

Heading into the fourth quarter, a total of 20 investors tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT), up by 18% from the end of June. The graph below displays the number of hedge funds with bullish position in EGHT over the last five quarters. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
EGTH
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Polar Capital, led by Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, holds the largest position in 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT). Polar Capital has a $35 million position in the stock, comprising 0.6% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, with a $30 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish comprise Principal Global Investors’s Columbus Circle Investors, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and Richard Driehaus’ Driehaus 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.

As one would reasonably expect, some big names have jumped into 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, led by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established the most valuable position in 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT). Arrowstreet Capital had $14.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Spencer M. Waxman‘s Shannon River Fund Management also made a $6.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Brad Farber’s Atika Capital, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO), TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ:ROVI), and CNOOC Limited (ADR) (NYSE:CEO). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to EGHT’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
GIMO 21 228017 -1
TTEC 8 18368 -1
ROVI 1 2876 -21
CEO 9 99931 -3

As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $87 million, which is lower than the $163 million figure in EGHT’s case. Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ:ROVI) is the least popular one with only one investor holding shares. 8×8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.