Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS): You’ve Gotta See These Numbers

Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) was in 12 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. SSYS investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 15 hedge funds in our database with SSYS positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In today’s marketplace, there are many metrics shareholders can use to watch Mr. Market. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are a number of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this tactic if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, it’s important to take a look at the latest action regarding Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS).

What does the smart money think about Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?

In preparation for this year, a total of 12 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -20% from the third quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates had the biggest position in Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS), worth close to $23.2 million, comprising 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Drew Cupps of Cupps Capital Management, with a $18.6 million position; 2.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other peers that hold long positions include Richard Driehaus’s Driehaus Capital, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw and Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors.

Since Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has witnessed bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of funds who were dropping their positions entirely in Q4. Intriguingly, Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC sold off the biggest stake of all the hedgies we key on, worth an estimated $43.5 million in stock.. Donald Chiboucis’s fund, Columbus Circle Investors, also said goodbye to its stock, about $14 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in Q4.

How have insiders been trading Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last 180-day time frame, Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). These stocks are Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII), Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI), Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL), and Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE). This group of stocks are the members of the computer peripherals industry and their market caps match SSYS’s market cap.

Company Name	# of Hedge Funds	# of Insiders Buying	# of Insiders Selling
Electronics For Imaging, Inc. (NASDAQ:EFII)	12	0	3
Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI)	11	0	1
Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA)	9	0	2
Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:PANL)	13	1	1
Nice Systems Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:NICE)	14	0	0

With the results exhibited by our studies, retail investors should always monitor hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds