Is Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) A Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, energy investor Andrew Hall’s Astenbeck Capital Management sold off the largest position of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $75.7 million in stock, and Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $51 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 6 funds last quarter.

Let’s now examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM). These stocks are Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 90.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $12428 million. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is the least popular one with only 74 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is even less popular than Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. Our guess is that they aren’t too optimistic about a recovery in energy prices and there are several other more attractively priced smaller energy companies available at the moment. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and some of them view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.