Should You Buy G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (GIII)?

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) has experienced an increase in enthusiasm from smart money in recent months.

G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII)

According to most stock holders, hedge funds are viewed as unimportant, outdated investment vehicles of years past. While there are more than 8000 funds in operation at the moment, we at Insider Monkey choose to focus on the leaders of this club, around 450 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group oversees the lion’s share of the smart money’s total asset base, and by keeping an eye on their highest performing stock picks, we have determined a number of investment strategies that have historically outpaced Mr. Market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced 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 topped the S&P 500 index by 23.3 percentage points in 8 months (check out a sample of our picks).

Equally as important, positive insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the financial markets. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of stimuli for a corporate insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a peek at the recent action encompassing G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII).

How have hedgies been trading G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 13% from the first quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes significantly.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII). Royce & Associates has a $81 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich of Scopia Capital, with a $78.9 million position; 2.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other peers that are bullish include David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management, Drew Cupps’s Cupps Capital Management and Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Ascend Capital, managed by Malcolm Fairbairn, established the most outsized position in G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII). Ascend Capital had 4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management also made a $3.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Robert Raiff’s Raiff Partners, Mark N. Diker’s Diker Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

How are insiders trading G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII)?

Insider buying is particularly usable when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time frame, G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) has seen 2 unique insiders buying, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII). These stocks are UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF), Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB), Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE:ZQK), True Religion Apparel, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRLG), and Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM). This group of stocks are the members of the textile – apparel clothing industry and their market caps are similar to GIII’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF) 14 0 4
Maidenform Brands, Inc. (NYSE:MFB) 7 0 2
Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE:ZQK) 12 0 1
True Religion Apparel, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRLG) 17 0 0
Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM) 6 2 2

With the returns shown by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors must always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds