Is Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (GRP) A Good Stock To Buy?

The third-quarter stock market correction has turned out to resemble the situation observed during the Asian financial crisis of 1997. The two relatively short-lived corrections occurred at a time with stable interest rates, falling commodity markets, with strong-performing technology and healthcare sectors, and struggling energy sector. Similarly, the two corrections followed long periods without a correction, which had to come sooner or later and it did. Even so, several prominent hedge fund investors publicly asserted their bearish view on the current state of the U.S. equity markets, suggesting that they significantly cut their exposure to equities during the latest quarter. Having said that, it would be worthwhile to take a look at the hedge fund sentiment on Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP) in order to identify whether reputable and successful top money managers continue to believe in its potential.

Is Granite Real Estate Investment Trust undervalued? Prominent investors are becoming more confident. The number of long hedge fund bets went up by 2 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare GRP to other stocks, including FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:FCN), Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ADR) (NYSE:EBR), and Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR) to get a better sense of its popularity.

In the eyes of most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be unimportant, old investment vehicles of years past. While there are over 8000 funds in operation today, Our researchers choose to focus on the crème de la crème of this group, approximately 700 funds. These investment experts handle most of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by observing their finest picks, Insider Monkey has discovered many investment strategies that have historically defeated the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the new action surrounding Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP).

How are hedge funds trading Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 7 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a surge of 40% from the second quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Huber Capital Management, managed by Joe Huber, holds the biggest position in Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP). Huber Capital Management has a $82.2 million stake in the company, comprising 2.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is D E Shaw, led by D. E. Shaw, holding a $4 million position; less than 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that hold long positions comprise Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies and Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management.

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established the most valuable position in Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP). The fund had $2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. J. Alan Reid, Jr.’s Forward Management also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP) but similarly valued. These stocks are FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:FCN), Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ADR) (NYSE:EBR), Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR), and Zendesk Inc (NYSE:ZEN). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to GRP’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
FCN 9 24318 -2
EBR 6 10869 2
MLHR 26 126616 3
ZEN 21 282574 -2

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $111 million. That figure was $90 million in GRP’s case, not a positive sign. Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR) is the most popular stock in this table, while Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ADR) (NYSE:EBR) is at the other end of the specter with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:GRP) 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 MLHR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.