Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (ISSI) Anymore: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), Netlist, Inc. (NLST)

Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money recently.

Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI)

In the financial world, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to track Mr. Market. A pair of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can trounce the market by a solid amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is another way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are plenty of motivations for an insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a gander at the key action surrounding Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI).

What does the smart money think about Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI)?

At year’s end, a total of 10 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes significantly.

Of the funds we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the largest position in Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI). Royce & Associates has a $29 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber, and Timothy Kroch of GRT Capital Partners, with a $1 million position; the fund has 0.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other peers that are bullish include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Due to the fact that Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies dumped the biggest stake of all the hedgies we monitor, totaling about $0 million in stock. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

What have insiders been doing with Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI). These stocks are Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ:NLST), SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS), Spansion Inc. (NYSE:CODE), and Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor- memory chips industry and their market caps resemble ISSI’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) 31 0 2
Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ:NLST) 2 1 0
SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS) 3 0 1
Spansion Inc. (NYSE:CODE) 19 0 3
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) 6 0 0

With the results demonstrated by our studies, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISSI) is an important part of this process.

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