Should You Avoid Manitowoc Company Inc (MTW)?

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Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW) has seen a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. 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 Eclipse Resources Corp (NYSE:ECR), NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRI), and Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW) to gather more data points.

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With all of this in mind, let’s take a peek at the new action surrounding Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW).

How are hedge funds trading Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW)?

Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 23 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a drop of 15% from the second quarter of 2016. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP has the number one position in Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW), worth close to $50.7 million and comprising 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Ryan Heslop and Ariel Warszawski of Firefly Value Partners, with a $40 million position; the fund has 5.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions contain Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Peter Schliemann’s Rutabaga Capital Management and John Smith Clark’s Southpoint Capital Advisors.

Judging by the fact that Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW) has faced falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there is a sect of hedge funds that slashed their positions entirely in the third quarter. Interestingly, Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital dropped the biggest investment of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $40.5 million in stock, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.5 million worth of MTW shares. These moves are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW) but similarly valued. These stocks are Eclipse Resources Corp (NYSE:ECR), NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRI), Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW), and TCP Capital Corp (NASDAQ:TCPC). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble MTW’s market cap.

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 $108 million. That figure was $170 million in MTW’s case. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand TCP Capital Corp (NASDAQ:TCPC) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW) 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.

Disclosure: none.