Index Inclusions & How to predict them.

Hi all, 

I was reading up on special situations strategies and came across index inclusions. Do any PM's/Analysts have time to shed some light on how to predict/capitalize on a stock entering or being removed from an index as a source of alpha

Much apreciated,

MM

27 Comments
 

i see you everywhere, incoming freshman aswell you make me look like a true retard. bright future ahead for you, keep it up

 

I think one of the main situations where this happens is with spinoffs. So if a company on the S&P 500 spins off a part of itself, and that company is too small for the index, all the ETFs holding shares of both companies will be forced to sell the spinoff. That pushes the price down, creating a nice value play. In practice, spinoffs don't happen that often, so the opportunity set isn't that large but at least it's predictable.

 

I also found Baupost/Klarman very impressive when I was in college but in the real world, his rigid framework means he hasn't been able to deploy capital effectively since GFC. 

The forced selling/buying sounds very cute but it rarely results in a massive dislocation these days. The index funds are selling their position in the 3 weeks leading up to the actual date (more weighted toward last week). This can often provide an opportunity for a sizable LO to scale up their position in size and effectively cancel out the impact of forced selling.

 

this is what is happened with moderna and alexion pharma. i also wonder how much alpha the firms already using this strategies have generated. Really exciting stuff !

 

If anyone is interested in Index arbitrage or predicting index flows/additions/deletions, please reach out to me.

Currently work for a large investment bank on the east coast and we are hiring junior roles or with a year of experience. Would love to chat.

Thanks!

Life's too short to smoke cheap cigars.
 
Most Helpful

Hello,

i worked 3 years at an event driven fund si can give a bit of info.

  1. All indices publish their precise methodology. It is public and free, just Google "MSCI index methodology" for example and you will have everything you need. Rules can vary from indices but globally the main criteria for inclusion is the free float market capitalisation. There are rules to limit turnover. Most indices do quaterly review, but may sometimes apply adjustments in between 2 reviews following corporate actions (M&A for example)
  1. Changes in the index are also announced before they are effective. For example S&P saying they will add Tesla in two weeks inside the index. Again these publications are free and public. Just look at any index provider website (the main providers are S&P, MSCI, FTSE, STOXX)
  1. How to make money ? This is the hard part. As all strategies there are a lot of ways to implement them and no obvious one to make money.

The basic idea is that ETFs tracking an index will have to buy the stock that will be included inside the index to be able to replicate the index performance. Hence there will be a lot a buying flows on this stock, that should generate excess returns. If you can forecast the future inclusions, you can buy the stock before the ETFs and make profit. Apply the reverse logic for stocks being deleted from the index.

Happy to go more into details if u have more questions

 

How much does a stock go up / down post index inclusion / deletion? What kinds of returns are you targeting for this trade (would prefer if you could share absolute basis, but IRR / annualized works too)

 

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