Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT): Hedge Funds and Insiders Are Bearish, What Should You Do?

Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT) has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest in recent months.

If you’d ask most traders, hedge funds are assumed to be slow, old investment tools of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds trading at the moment, we look at the elite of this club, around 450 funds. It is estimated that this group oversees the majority of the hedge fund industry’s total capital, and by watching their best investments, we have deciphered a number of investment strategies that have historically outperformed the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed 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 25 percentage points in 6.5 month (check out a sample of our picks).

Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT)

Just as integral, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the world of equities. There are lots of incentives for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if piggybackers understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action regarding Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT).

How have hedgies been trading Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT)?

At year’s end, a total of 15 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -17% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

According to our comprehensive database, Farallon Capital, managed by Thomas Steyer, holds the biggest position in Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT). Farallon Capital has a $13 million position in the stock, comprising 0.3% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Blue Ridge Capital, managed by John Griffin, which held a $8 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds with similar optimism include Philip Hempleman’s Ardsley Partners, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Judging by the fact that Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of funds who sold off their entire stakes at the end of the year. Interestingly, David Gallo’s Valinor Management LLC said goodbye to the biggest position of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling an estimated $7 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also dropped its call options., about $2 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds at the end of the year.

How are insiders trading Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time frame, Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned time-tested strategies, everyday investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Westport Innovations Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:WPRT) is an important part of this process.

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