Energy stocks emerged as a haven for hedge funds in March as Middle East tensions rattled global markets, according to new data from Hazeltree.
The firm’s analysis of trades by its alternative asset clients found a 55% increase in the number of funds carrying long energy positions last month. At the company level, 44% of stocks in the sector saw the number of funds long their shares rise by more than 10% compared with February.
“When we analyzed our previous Crowdedness Report, the Middle East conflict had just begun on February 28 and little did we know what a significant impact it would have across broad global market sectors, with the exception of energy,” said Tim Smith, managing director, Data Insights, Hazeltree. “Energy stocks proved to be a magnet for hedge fund inflows likely due to a combination of macro positioning and geopolitical risk.”
Hazeltree’s analysis draws on anonymized data covering approximately 16,000 securities and more than 600 global funds on its proprietary securities-finance platform, including the 10 most crowded regional long and short positions across large-, mid-, and small-cap categories.
Specific trades
Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporation (not to be confused with Swedish asset manager EQT Group), the only large-scale, vertically integrated natural gas producer, attracted significant attention in March. The stock saw a 24% increase in funds long and a 36% decrease in funds short compared with the prior month, Smith said.
Hazeltree’s dataset shows that EQT Corporation’s monthly long-to-short fund count ratio has steadily climbed from approximately 1:1 in December 2025 to approximately 3:1 in March. It is the highest level Hazeltree has seen for this stock since early 2025. The stock closed at $66.86 on March 26, delivering a solid 25% YTD gain.
Across all three regions, information technology, industrials, and financials ranked at or near the top of both long and short crowdedness rankings—a pattern Hazeltree said has held since December 2025. Within those sectors, software and services drove IT activity in North America, while technology hardware and equipment led in Asia Pacific. Capital goods dominated industrials across all regions, and banks drove financials rankings in both North America and EMEA.
Regionally there were some differences, with technology, financials, and industrials seeing the greatest activity among hedge fund traders.
On the long side in North America, Microsoft topped the ranking, while on the short side Cloudflare, Nebius Group, and Brown & Brown led the way. Cloud and cybersecurity provider Cloudflare’s stock price has risen in recent days, while Nebius Group, a Netherlands-based AI infrastructure provider, is also seeing a bump. Meanwhile, insurance brokerage provider Brown & Brown has seen a slight rise in its stock price on the back of current market momentum.
In Asia Pacific, the top long holdings were HD Hyundai Electric and Winbond Electronics. On the short side, Chinese companies Xiaomi and Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited were the most active trades. HD Hyundai Electric has been riding the energy wave by providing electrical equipment components, and Winbond, a Taiwanese producer of semiconductor chips, is benefiting from the AI wave.
Similar trends are unfolding in EMEA, as telecom services and energy were the most active sectors in terms of fluctuation in short fund counts, respectively. On the long side, financial services providers NatWest Group and AXA led the way.