How IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (IMH) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

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IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSE:IMH) has seen an increase in support from the world’s most successful money managers in recent months. There were just 2 hedge funds in our database with IMH holdings at the end of the second quarter, which rose to 9 by the end of the third quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc (NYSE:BBW), Credit Suisse AM Inc Fund Inc. (NYSEMKT:CIK), and Everi Holdings Inc (NYSE:EVRI) to gather more data points.

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Hedge fund activity in IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSE:IMH)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 9 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a greater than 200% increase from one quarter earlier, as smart money suddenly takes a much keener interest in the stock. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Emanuel J. Friedman of EJF Capital holds the largest position in IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSE:IMH). EJF Capital has a $2 million position in the stock. On EJF Capital’s heels is Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser of Magnetar Capital, with a $0.9 million position. Some other professional money managers that are bullish include Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and Joe DiMenna’s ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS. We should note that none of these hedge funds are among our list of the 100 best performing hedge funds, which is based on the performance of their 13F long positions in non-micro-cap stocks.

Now, some big names have been driving this bullishness. EJF Capital assembled the most outsized position in IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSE:IMH). Magnetar Capital’s position was also a new one added to its portfolio during the third quarter. The other funds with brand new IMH positions are Pine River Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies, and David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSEMKT:IMH). We will take a look at Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc (NYSE:BBW), Credit Suisse AM Inc Fund Inc. (NYSEMKT:CIK), Everi Holdings Inc (NYSE:EVRI), and Vectrus Inc (NYSE:VEC). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to IMH’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $29 million. That figure was $6 million in IMH’s case. Everi Holdings Inc (NYSE:EVRI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Credit Suisse AM Inc Fund Inc. (NYSEMKT:CIK) is the least popular one with only 2 bullish hedge fund positions. IMPAC Mortgage Holdings, Inc (NYSE:IMH) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard EVRI might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None