Is Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) the right pick for your portfolio? The best stock pickers are selling. The number of bullish hedge fund bets stayed the same which is a slightly negative development in our experience
In the financial world, there are plenty of gauges market participants can use to monitor Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as integral, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are many reasons for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would buy. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action surrounding Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN).
What does the smart money think about Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 0% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.
Of the funds we track, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw had the largest position in Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN), worth close to $0.2 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. On D E Shaw’s heels is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $0.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.
Because Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) has faced a declination in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few fund managers that slashed their positions entirely in Q1. At the top of the heap, Gregory Fraser Rudolph Kluiber and Timothy Krochuk’s GRT Capital Partners sold off the biggest investment of all the hedgies we track, comprising close to $0.4 million in stock., and Peter Rathjens Bruce Clarke and John Campbell of Arrowstreet Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.1 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN)?
Insider buying is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) has experienced 4 unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN). These stocks are Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSPD), Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ACLS), Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCLR), Cascade Microtech, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCD), and eMagin Corporation (NYSEAMEX:EMAN). This group of stocks are in the semiconductor equipment & materials industry and their market caps resemble MTSN’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSPD) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ACLS) | 9 | 0 | 3 |
| Oclaro, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCLR) | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Cascade Microtech, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCD) | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| eMagin Corporation (NYSEAMEX:EMAN) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns exhibited by the aforementioned research, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
