VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (VIP): Hedge Fund Sentiment Unchanged

Due to the fact that VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) has witnessed falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $0.3 million in stock. Paul Tudor Jones’ fund, Tudor Investment Corp, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP). These stocks are Mednax Inc. (NYSE:MD), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS), and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT). This group of stocks’ market values match VIP’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $182 million. That figure was $122 million in VIP’s case. Mednax Inc. (NYSE:MD) is the most popular stock in this table, while Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (ADR) (NYSE:MBT) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks VimpelCom Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:VIP) is even less popular than MBT. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.