Hedge Funds Are Buying McDermott International (MDR)

Hedge funds and other investment firms run by legendary investors like Israel Englander and Ray Dalio are entrusted to manage billions of dollars of accredited investors’ money because they are without peer in the resources they use to identify the best investments for their chosen investment horizon. Moreover, they are more willing to invest a greater amount of their resources in small-cap stocks than big brokerage houses, and this is often where they generate their outperformance, which is why we pay particular attention to their best ideas in this space.

McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with MDR holdings at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare MDR to other stocks including Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL), Inogen Inc (NASDAQ:INGN), and Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE:TGP) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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With all of this in mind, we’re going to view the new action surrounding McDermott International (NYSE:MDR).

How have hedgies been trading McDermott International (NYSE:MDR)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, up 4% from one quarter earlier. On the other hand, there were a total of 22 hedge funds with a bullish position in MDR at the beginning of this year. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

HedgeFundSentimentChart (11)

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Michael Blitzer’s Kingstown Capital Management has the number one position in McDermott International (NYSE:MDR), worth close to $26.6 million, accounting for 3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Mark McGoldrick and Jason Maynard of Mount Kellett Capital Management, with a $22.2 million position; the fund has 27.6% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers with similar optimism include Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Youlia Miteva’s Proxima Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw. 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.

Consequently, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Akanthos Capital, led by Michael Kao, established the most outsized call position in McDermott International (NYSE:MDR). According to regulatory filings, the fund had $5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MDR positions are Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL), Inogen Inc (NASDAQ:INGN), Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE:TGP), and Golar LNG Partners LP (NASDAQ:GMLP). This group of stocks’ market caps match MDR’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
SDRL 18 33658 1
INGN 10 63654 -5
TGP 6 23219 3
GMLP 8 59036 2

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $45 million. That figure was $109 million in MDR’s case. Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE:TGP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks McDermott International (NYSE:MDR) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

Disclosure: none.