It’s 13F season, which means average investors can find out what hedge fund managers have been buying and selling.

This has been a difficult year for the industry, with lackluster returns and growing resistance to hedge fund managers’ lucrative fees.

The largest U.S. hedge fund firm is Westport, Conn.-based Bridgewater Associates LP, with $160 billion in assets under management. Bloomberg reported that the fund reduced its holdings of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY, -1.97% , while boosting its position in the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF EEM, -1.76% during the third quarter.

We thought it would be interesting to dig deeper into Bridgewater’s 13F filing to track moves made by founder and Chairman Ray Dalio and his team. The fund built new positions in 152 stocks during the third quarter, while liquidating 90.

You might think lists of stocks bought and sold highlight investment trends, but it isn’t that simple. For example, the fund sold six stocks of companies that specialize in oil and gas drilling, production, services, equipment and refining. But Bridgewater also bought shares of one contract driller, two oil producers and four companies providing oil-field services and equipment.

It certainly has been a terrible year for oil stocks, as the decline in the price of crude oil CLF25, pushed down the S&P 500 Oil and Gas Drilling subsector by 26%. Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 Index has returned 12%, with dividends reinvested. But Bridgewater sees value in the sector, or at least it did, during the third quarter.

Here’s a list of 10 oil stocks that may eventually stage the biggest rebound based on share-price declines and sales growth.

Bridgewater loaded up on apparel and retail stocks during the third quarter, while also focusing on providers of household and personal-care products, large providers of Internet services, including Facebook Inc. FB, -1.97% , AOL Inc. US:AOL and Google Inc. GOOGL, -2.10% , medical-specialty companies, property and casualty insurers, and real estate investment trusts.

It’s important to consider just how much information hedge funds are providing. This week’s 13F filing includes a table showing Bridgewater’s stock holdings as of Sept. 30. But the fund’s portfolio may have changed considerably since then.

Also keep in mind that some the moves are based on stock selection, not sector trends.

Here are Bridgewater Associates’ 10 largest new positions as of Sept. 30:

We’ve included total returns since Sept. 30. In comparison, the S&P 500 returned 4% from the end of September through Wednesday.

Here are the 10 biggest holdings as of June 30 that Bridgewater unloaded in the third quarter:

Again, we’ve included total returns from the end of the third quarter through Wednesday. However, that doesn’t necessarily highlight any “lost opportunities” for Bridgewater because the fund is not required to say which days it sold the stocks.

Lists of stocks bought and sold by the nation’s largest hedge funds shouldn’t be used to “follow the leader,” but they can provide food for thought as you do your own investment research.