UBS's proprietary crowding framework shows Tesco remains the most heavily owned stock among hedge funds in European retail, ranking first out of more than 550 stocks in the bank's broader coverage universe.
Next holds second place in the crowding rankings. Marks and Spencer has climbed to third, up from sixth a month ago, and has turned net positive in crowding terms over the past year.
The picture is more fraught for fashion names. Next is the most crowded long in fashion retail, but the subsector as a whole remains short-skewed.
Associated British Foods, Asos, and H&M sit among the most crowded shorts across the entire European coverage universe, with ABF and Asos in the bottom 10% of more than 550 stocks.
Greggs also remains firmly on the short side, though its crowding score has improved significantly from the deeply negative readings seen earlier in 2026.
On the long-only side, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Ocado, Greggs, and Sainsbury's are all overweight positions among institutional fund managers.
Next and Associated British Foods sit in the overweight and underweight camps respectively for long-only investors, mirroring the divergence in hedge fund positioning.
In the hardline retail segment, Kingfisher is positioned as an overweight among long-only funds and carries a positive crowding score.
Dunelm's crowding score has drifted back toward neutral after sitting firmly positive earlier in the year.
UBS also flagged a style migration note: Greggs has joined Inditex in the bank's HOLT "Quality at Any Price" investment style bucket, a classification that reflects strong return profiles trading at demanding valuations.
The overall retail sector remains short-skewed relative to the broader market average crowding score of 0.7.
