Are National Beverage Corp. (FIZZ) Shares About to Fizz Out?

Due to the fact that National Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ:FIZZ) has witnessed a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, comprising about $1.1 million in stock. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also cut its stock, about $0.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as National Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ:FIZZ) but similarly valued. These stocks are MGE Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGEE), Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC), Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM), and Prothena Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:PRTA). This group of stocks’ market values match FIZZ’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $201 million. That figure was just $25 million in FIZZ’s case. Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE:SEM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ:SFNC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. National Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ:FIZZ) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average and hedge funds are underweight the stock. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SEM might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.