Hedge Funds Are Selling Mobile Mini Inc (MINI)

Before we spend countless hours researching a company, we like to analyze what insiders, hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. This is a necessary first step in our investment process because our research has shown that the elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).

Is Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) ready to rally soon? Hedge funds are becoming less confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions fell by 6 lately. Our calculations also showed that MINI isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q1 rankings and see the video for a quick look at the top 5 stocks). MINI was in 18 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of March. There were 24 hedge funds in our database with MINI holdings at the end of the previous quarter.

Video: Watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.

Why do we pay any attention at all to hedge fund sentiment? Our research has shown that a select group of hedge fund holdings outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by 58 percentage points since March 2017 (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that’ll significantly underperform the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 36% through May 18th. That’s why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to.

We leave no stone unturned when looking for the next great investment idea. For example Europe is set to become the world’s largest cannabis market, so we check out this European marijuana stock pitch. We interview hedge fund managers and ask them about their best ideas. If you want to find out the best healthcare stock to buy right now, you can watch our latest hedge fund manager interview here. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 after realizing the coronavirus pandemic’s significance before most investors. With all of this in mind we’re going to take a look at the latest hedge fund action surrounding Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI).

What have hedge funds been doing with Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -25% from the fourth quarter of 2019. By comparison, 14 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in MINI a year ago. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

Among these funds, Alpine Associates held the most valuable stake in Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), which was worth $13.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Fisher Asset Management which amassed $7.6 million worth of shares. Two Sigma Advisors, Arrowstreet Capital, and Royce & Associates were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Rubric Capital Management allocated the biggest weight to Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI), around 0.69% of its 13F portfolio. Alpine Associates is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 0.54 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to MINI.

Seeing as Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of fund managers that slashed their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Paul Singer’s Elliott Management dumped the largest stake of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $75.8 million in stock. Clint Carlson’s fund, Carlson Capital, also dumped its stock, about $9.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI). We will take a look at SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWTX), CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ), iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT), and B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE:BGS). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble MINI’s market cap.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $176 million. That figure was $59 million in MINI’s case. iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Mobile Mini Inc (NASDAQ:MINI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our calculations showed that top 10 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 41.4% in 2019 and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 10.1 percentage points. These stocks gained 13.4% in 2020 through June 22nd but still beat the market by 15.9 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on MINI as the stock returned 37.8% in Q2 (through June 22nd) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.

Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.