bebe stores, inc. (BEBE): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) shareholders have witnessed a decrease in hedge fund sentiment recently.

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of methods shareholders can use to watch stocks. A pair of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you understand what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a glance at the latest action surrounding bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE).

What have hedge funds been doing with bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -9% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies had the biggest position in bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE), worth close to $4.3 million, comprising less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Chuck Royce of Royce & Associates, with a $3.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

Seeing as bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedge funds that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the year. Interestingly, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments cut the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, totaling close to $0.2 million in stock.. Neil Chriss’s fund, Hutchin Hill Capital, also dropped its stock, about $0.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds at the end of the year.

Insider trading activity in bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE)

Insider buying is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time period, bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE) has experienced 2 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also examine hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to bebe stores, inc. (NASDAQ:BEBE). These stocks are Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCVL), Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST), Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMRT), and Tilly’s Inc (NYSE:TLYS). This group of stocks are in the apparel stores industry and their market caps resemble BEBE’s market cap.