Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (BAP)

While the market driven by short-term sentiment influenced by uncertainty regarding the future of the interest rate environment in the US, the low commodity prices and the economic turmoil in China, many smart money investors are keeping their optimism regarding the current bull run, while still hedging many of their long positions. However, as we know, big investors usually buy stocks with strong fundamentals, which is why we believe we can profit from imitating them. In this article, we are going to take a look at the smart money sentiment surrounding Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP).

Is Credicorp Ltd. (USA) a buy, sell, or hold? Investors who are in the know are getting less bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions decreased by 4 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare BAP to other stocks including Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN), PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH), and L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the financial world there are plenty of gauges stock traders have at their disposal to size up publicly traded companies. A pair of the most under-the-radar gauges are hedge fund and insider trading interest. Our experts have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a significant margin (see the details here).

Now, let’s go over the key action regarding Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP).

How have hedgies been trading Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 18 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of -18% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management has the number one position in Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP), worth close to $120 million, corresponding to 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. On Fisher Asset Management’s heels is Discovery Capital Management, led by Rob Citrone, holding a $44.5 million position; 0.5% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish comprise Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, J Kevin Kenny Jr’s Emerging Sovereign Group and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Due to the fact that Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners said goodbye to the largest investment of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $3.5 million in stock, and Michael Hintze’s CQS Cayman LP was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 4 funds last quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP) but similarly valued. These stocks are Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN), PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH), L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL), and Total System Services, Inc. (NYSE:TSS). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to BAP’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $684 million. That figure was $389 million in BAP’s case. PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Credicorp Ltd. (USA) (NYSE:BAP) is as less popular as LLL. 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.