Hedge Funds Are Crazy About Enerplus Corp (USA) (ERF)

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. Sprott Asset Management made a $1.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF) positions are Renaissance Technologies, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF) but similarly valued. These stocks are Abaxis Inc (NASDAQ:ABAX), Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LITE), Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:TSEM), and First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME). This group of stocks’ market caps is similar to Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $72 million. That figure was $22 million in Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF)’s case. Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:TSEM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard, Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:TSEM) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.