Should You Avoid Columbus McKinnon Corp. (CMCO)?

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Reputable billionaire investors such as Nelson Peltz and David Tepper generate exorbitant profits for their wealthy accredited investors (a minimum of $1 million in investable assets would be required to invest in a hedge fund and most successful hedge funds won’t accept your savings unless you commit at least $5 million) by pinpointing winning small-cap stocks. There is little or no publicly-available information at all on some of these small companies, which makes it hard for an individual investor to pin down a winner within the small-cap space. However, hedge funds and other big asset managers can do the due diligence and analysis for you instead, thanks to their highly-skilled research teams and vast resources to conduct an appropriate evaluation process. Looking for potential winners within the small-cap galaxy of stocks? We believe following the smart money is a good starting point.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCO), which lost some appeal among smart money investors last quarter. There were 14 funds in our database bullish on the company at the end of September. However, 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 CNX Coal Resources LP (NYSE:CNXC), Triumph Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:TBK), and Peoples Utah Bancorp (NASDAQ:PUB) to gather more data points.

Follow Columbus Mckinnon Corp (NASDAQ:CMCO)

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With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a glance at the key action regarding Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCO).

What have hedge funds been doing with Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCO)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 14 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in Columbus McKinnon, compared to 15 investors a quarter earlier. By comparison, 10 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in CMCO heading into this year. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

CMCO Chart

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Richard S. Pzena’s Pzena Investment Management holds the biggest position in Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCO). Pzena Investment Management has a $27.5 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Pzena Investment Management’s heels is Rutabaga Capital Management, led by Peter Schliemann, holding a $9.6 million position; the fund has 1.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other peers that hold long positions comprise Julian Allen’s Spitfire Capital, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, and Mark Lee’s Forest Hill Capital. 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-microcap stocks.

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