How Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (STWD) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

Due to the fact that Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) has gone through falling interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. Interestingly, Arthur Wrubel’s Wesley Capital Management sold off the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $25.9 million in stock. Kenneth Tropin’s fund, Graham Capital Management, also cut its stock, about $10.1 million worth.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) but similarly valued. These stocks are Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM), Erie Indemnity Company (NASDAQ:ERIE), Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY), and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (ADR) (NYSE:PAC). This group of stocks’ market values resemble STWD’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $597 million. That figure was $416 million in STWD’s case. Berry Plastics Group Inc (NYSE:BERY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (ADR) (NYSE:PAC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:STWD) 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 BERY might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None