If you like to follow “smart money” buying trends like which stocks hedge funds are purchasing, you may be interested in this list.
We ran a screen on the wireless communications industry for stocks seeing the most significant net institutional purchases over the current quarter.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's recent performance, click here.
Do you think hedge funds are calling it right on these names? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by net institutional shares purchased as a percent of share float.
1. SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (SKM): Provides wireless telecommunications services using code division multiple access (CDMA) and wide-band CDMA technologies. Market cap of $9.53B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 89.2M, which is 24.41% of the company's 365.43M share float. Offers a good dividend, and appears to have good liquidity to back it up--dividend yield at 5.34%, current ratio at 1.43, and quick ratio at 1.41. The stock has lost 21.08% over the last year.
2. NTT DOCOMO, Inc. (DCM): Provides wireless telecommunications services, packet communications services, and satellite mobile communications services in Japan. Market cap of $78.40B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 1.7M, which is 22.31% of the company's 7.62M share float. The stock has gained 9.78% over the last year.
3. UTStarcom Holdings Corp. (UTSI): Designs and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based telecommunications infrastructure products to telecommunications service providers and operators worldwide. Market cap of $218.58M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 16.4M, which is 16.62% of the company's 98.67M share float. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.03). The stock has lost 27.46% over the last year.
4. InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC): Engages in the design and development of digital wireless technology solutions. Market cap of $1.95B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 4.3M, which is 10.24% of the company's 41.99M share float. The stock has gained 13.9% over the last year.
5. TIM Participacoes S.A. (TSU): Provides mobile telecommunications services through global system mobile (GSM) technology to business and individual customers in Brazil. Market cap of $6.10B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 11.1M, which is 10.00% of the company's 110.95M share float. Offers a good dividend, and appears to have good liquidity to back it up--dividend yield at 5.09%, current ratio at 1.37, and quick ratio at 1.31. The stock has lost 24.5% over the last year.
6. VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP): Operates as an integrated telecommunications services provider, offering voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed, and broadband technologies. Market cap of $14.39B. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 19.0M, which is 6.64% of the company's 286.26M share float. It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 7.3% over the last week.
7. Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP): Provides digital wireless services under the “Cricket' brand name in the United States. Market cap of $711.54M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 2.7M, which is 5.53% of the company's 48.80M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 16.72% (equivalent to 6.28 days of average volume). The stock has lost 19.93% over the last year.
8. Meru Networks, Inc. (MERU): Engages in the development and marketing of a virtualized wireless LAN solution. Market cap of $69.75M. Net institutional shares purchased over the current quarter at 290.4K, which is 3.17% of the company's 9.15M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 21.24% (equivalent to 22.15 days of average volume). It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 15.53% over the last week.
*Institutional data sourced from Fidelity, all other data sourced from Finviz.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
