Silicon Image, Inc. (SIMG): Insiders Are Buying, Should You?

Is Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) a buy here? Prominent investors are taking a bearish view. The number of bullish hedge fund positions dropped by 1 lately.

Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG)

To the average investor, there are a multitude of indicators market participants can use to monitor publicly traded companies. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite investment managers can outclass the broader indices by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. There are plenty of incentives for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Various academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action regarding Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG).

Hedge fund activity in Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG)

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -6% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings considerably.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Carlson Capital, managed by Clint Carlson, holds the largest position in Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG). Carlson Capital has a $11.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies, with a $9.2 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism include Matthew Drapkin and Steven R. Becker’s Becker Drapkin Management, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Peter A. Wright’s P.A.W. CAPITAL PARTNERS.

Seeing as Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few money managers who sold off their positions entirely in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, comprising an estimated $2.9 million in stock.. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s fund, Algert Coldiron Investors, also sold off its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds in Q1.

How are insiders trading Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the primary stock in question has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) has seen 1 unique insiders purchasing, and 2 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG). These stocks are M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings (NASDAQ:MTSI), Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ:KOPN), FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM), Inphi Corporation (NYSE:IPHI), and Entropic Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTR). This group of stocks are the members of the semiconductor – broad line industry and their market caps resemble SIMG’s market cap.

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings (NASDAQ:MTSI) 4 0 5
Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ:KOPN) 9 1 0
FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM) 18 0 3
Inphi Corporation (NYSE:IPHI) 7 3 0
Entropic Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTR) 11 6 0

With the returns shown by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Silicon Image, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIMG) is an important part of this process.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds