What do Hedge Funds Think of Haemonetics Corporation (HAE)?

Legendary investors such as Leon Cooperman and Seth Klarman earn enormous amounts of money for themselves and their investors by doing in-depth research on small-cap stocks that big brokerage houses don’t publish. Small cap stocks -especially when they are screened well- can generate substantial outperformance versus a boring index fund. That’s why we analyze the activity of those elite funds in these small-cap stocks. In the following paragraphs, we analyze Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) from the perspective of those elite funds.

Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) investors should be aware of an increase in enthusiasm from smart money recently. HAE was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 10 hedge funds in our database with HAE positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare HAE to other stocks including Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), Knowles Corp (NYSE:KN), and 51job, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JOBS) to get a better sense of its popularity.

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Now, let’s view the latest action surrounding Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE).

How are hedge funds trading Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 11 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 10% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies has the biggest position in Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE), worth close to $8.4 million, accounting for less than 0.1%% of its total 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which holds a $8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining members of the smart money with similar optimism encompass Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

Now, specific money managers have jumped into Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) headfirst. D E Shaw, managed by D. E. Shaw, initiated the largest position in Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE). D E Shaw had $1.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE). These stocks are Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), Knowles Corp (NYSE:KN), 51job, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JOBS), and National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to HAE’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
YELP 27 516225 -17
KN 13 156457 -3
JOBS 7 6807 0
NBG 5 9562 -6

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $172 million. That figure was $40 million in HAE’s case. Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand National Bank of Greece (ADR) (NYSE:NBG) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard YELP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.