Do Hedge Funds Love Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK)?

Due to the fact that Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) has witnessed a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Doug Gordon, Jon Hilsabeck and Don Jabro’s Shellback Capital said goodbye to the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at about $17.8 million in stock. George Soros’ fund, Soros Fund Management, also sold off its stock, about $6.4 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 4 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK). We will take a look at Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL), Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX), and Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble ALK’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 32.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $913 million. That figure was $1361 million in ALK’s case. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kimco Realty Corp (NYSE:KIM) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard FCX might be a better candidate to consider a long position.