Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF)’s Stock Plunges on Disappointing Earnings

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Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, established the largest position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF). Winton Capital Management had $6.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Doug Gordon, Jon Hilsabeck and Don Jabro’s Shellback Capital also initiated a $5.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, Solomon Kumin’s Folger Hill Asset Management, and Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF). We will take a look at Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV (ADR) (NYSE:VLRS), Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY), HB Fuller Co (NYSE:FUL), and GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to ANF’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
VLRS 12 177995 1
DY 33 450108 3
FUL 18 158683 5
GRUB 23 636276 -1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $356 million. That figure was $320 million in ANF’s case. Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV (ADR) (NYSE:VLRS) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) 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 DY might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None

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