Hedge Funds Are Dumping Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (GTE)

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Reputable billionaire investors such as Nelson Peltz and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won’t accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEAMEX:GTE) was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. GTE shareholders have witnessed a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently. There were 17 hedge funds in our database with GTE positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare GTE to other stocks including Capital Senior Living Corporation (NYSE:CSU), ePlus Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS), and 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLWS) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Follow Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEMKT:GTE)

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are a large number of signals stock traders have at their disposal to assess their holdings. A duo of the most useful signals are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a healthy margin (see the details here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a gander at the latest action surrounding Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEAMEX:GTE).

Hedge fund activity in Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEAMEX:GTE)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, West Face Capital, managed by Greg Boland, holds the biggest position in Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (NYSEAMEX:GTE). West Face Capital has a $50.7 million position in the stock, comprising 21% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Joseph Oughourlian and Michel Brogard of Amber Capital, with a $37.7 million position; 47.9% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism contain Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, John Thiessen’s Vertex One Asset Management and Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors.

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