Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (TM)

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have jumped into Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) headfirst. BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., managed by Michael Platt and William Reeves, initiated the biggest position in Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM). BlueCrest Capital Mgmt. had $3.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Israel Englander’s Millennium Management also made a $0.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new TM position is Kynikos.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM). These stocks are Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), and Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble TM’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 53 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $7.64 billion, considerably higher than the $230 million figure in TM’s case. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is the least popular one with only 48 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) is even less popular than DIS. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.