Is Xcerra Corp (XCRA) A Good Stock To Buy?

We at Insider Monkey have gone over 700 13F filings that hedge funds and prominent investors are required to file by the government. The 13F filings show the funds’ and investors’ portfolio positions as of September 30. In this article, we look at what those funds think of Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA) based on that data.

Is Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA) a buy, sell, or hold? Money managers are in a bearish mood. The number of bullish hedge fund bets decreased by 3 recently. At the end of this article we will also compare XCRA to other stocks including Arrowhead Research Corp (NASDAQ:ARWR), Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG), and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO) to get a better sense of its popularity.

Follow Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA)

To the average investor there are a multitude of signals stock traders employ to grade publicly traded companies. A couple of the most innovative signals are hedge fund and insider trading indicators. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a very impressive amount (see the details here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the recent action encompassing Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA).

What have hedge funds been doing with Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 19 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -14% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA). Royce & Associates has a $18.7 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates’s heels is Nokomis Capital, led by Brett Hendrickson, holding a $15.9 million position; 4.6% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish contain Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, Ari Zweiman’s 683 Capital Partners and Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management.

Since Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Joseph A. Jolson’s Harvest Capital Strategies dumped the biggest position of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling about $8.3 million in stock. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also sold off its stock, about $0.8 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Arrowhead Research Corp (NASDAQ:ARWR), Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE:MSO), and Mercantile Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:MBWM). This group of stocks’ market values resemble XCRA’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ARWR 10 27001 1
ORIG 15 76592 -1
MSO 10 42863 -6
MBWM 5 18590 0

As you can see these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $41 million. That figure was $49 million in XCRA’s case. Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mercantile Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:MBWM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Xcerra Corp (NASDAQ:XCRA) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.