How do we determine whether CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY) makes for a good investment at the moment? We analyze the sentiment of a select group of the very best investors in the world, who spend immense amounts of time and resources studying companies. They may not always be right (no one is), but data shows that their consensus long positions have historically outperformed the market when we adjust for known risk factors.
Is CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY) a marvelous investment today? Hedge funds are becoming less confident. The number of bullish hedge fund positions were cut by 3 in recent months. Our calculations also showed that CBAY isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings and see the video below for Q2 rankings).
Video: Click the image to watch our video about the top 5 most popular hedge fund stocks.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit there are plenty of indicators investors can use to grade stocks. A duo of the less known indicators are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. We have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top fund managers can outclass the market by a healthy margin (see the details here).
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Israel Englander of Millennium Management[/caption]
Unlike the largest US hedge funds that are convinced Dow will soar past 40,000 or the world's most bearish hedge fund that's more convinced than ever that a crash is coming, our long-short investment strategy doesn't rely on bull or bear markets to deliver double digit returns. We only rely on the best performing hedge funds' buy/sell signals. Let's take a look at the fresh hedge fund action encompassing CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY).
Hedge fund activity in CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY)
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 21 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -13% from the second quarter of 2019. On the other hand, there were a total of 23 hedge funds with a bullish position in CBAY a year ago. With hedge funds' capital changing hands, there exists an "upper tier" of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
More specifically, Baker Bros. Advisors was the largest shareholder of CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY), with a stake worth $29.2 million reported as of the end of September. Trailing Baker Bros. Advisors was Millennium Management, which amassed a stake valued at $19.1 million. Point72 Asset Management, Redmile Group, and venBio Select Advisor were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Foresite Capital allocated the biggest weight to CymaBay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBAY), around 2.95% of its 13F portfolio. Vivo Capital is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 1.26 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to CBAY.