Sentiment Shifts Among Hedge Funds, Mutual Funds and Sell-Side

Almost every investor wants to know what the rest of the market is buying and selling. Contrarians in particular often ask, “what does everybody love?” and “what does everybody hate?”

With this in mind, Credit Suisse has put together a “Carving Up The Consensus” report, which outlines the positioning among long/short hedge funds, long-only actively managed mutual funds, and sell-side analysts. The recommendations are split up by industry group, for both US large caps (stocks in the Russell 1000) and small caps (stocks in the Russell 2000).

While it’s difficult to tell which indicator tracks performance most closely over time, Credit Suisse’s research suggests that for large caps, sell-side net buys may be the single best...