Here is What Hedge Funds Think About IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP)

Page 2 of 2

Because IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP) has witnessed a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there is a sect of funds that slashed their full holdings in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital dropped the largest stake of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $3 million in stock, and Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.1 million worth of stock. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP). We will take a look at Casey’s General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:CASY), Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ICPT), and Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:ZBRA). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to IPGP’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
CASY 21 158714 7
PBI 19 636706 -7
ICPT 18 345114 -6
ZBRA 32 653219 5

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $448 million. That figure was just $147 million in IPGP’s case. Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:ZBRA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ICPT) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard ZBRA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Page 2 of 2