To most traders, hedge funds are viewed as worthless, old financial tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds in operation today, we look at the aristocrats of this club, about 450 funds. It is widely believed that this group oversees the lion’s share of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by tracking their best picks, we have found a few investment strategies that have historically outstripped the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outstripped the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points a year for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have beaten the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (see the details here).
Equally as important, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the financial markets. As the old adage goes: there are a number of reasons for a bullish insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).
Consequently, it’s important to take a look at the key action regarding Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ).
What does the smart money think about Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ)?
At Q1’s end, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -11% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Luxor Capital Group, managed by Christian Leone, holds the biggest position in Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ). Luxor Capital Group has a $47.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.9% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Greg Boland of West Face Capital, with a $38.1 million position; the fund has 7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that hold long positions include Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital, Jonathan Savitz’s Greywolf Capital Management and Ryan Schaper’s Point Lobos Capital.
Judging by the fact that Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ) has faced declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there is a sect of hedgies who were dropping their positions entirely at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly, Christopher R. Hansen’s Valiant Capital said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we watch, comprising an estimated $19.7 million in stock., and David Moradi of Anthion Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $1.4 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds at the end of the first quarter.
How are insiders trading Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ)?
Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in question has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest half-year time period, Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ). These stocks are TearLab Corporation (NASDAQ:TEAR), Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ:BRLI), Trius Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRX), and Novadaq Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:NVDQ). This group of stocks are in the medical laboratories & research industry and their market caps resemble NDZ’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| TearLab Corporation (NASDAQ:TEAR) | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ:BRLI) | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| Trius Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSRX) | 15 | 0 | 4 |
| Novadaq Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:NVDQ) | 10 | 0 | 0 |
With the returns exhibited by Insider Monkey’s time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Nordion Inc (USA) (NYSE:NDZ) is an important part of this process.
