Hedge Funds Are Selling Office Depot Inc (ODP)

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Seeing as Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of money managers that elected to cut their entire stakes by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Robert Emil Zoellner’s Alpine Associates sold off the biggest position of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling about $19.3 million in call options., and Matthew Mark’s Jet Capital Investors was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $19 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 13 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP). These stocks are Esterline Technologies Corporation (NYSE:ESL), Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI), Lithia Motors Inc (NYSE:LAD), and Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to ODP’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
ESL 18 377920 8
MLI 15 249669 -1
LAD 20 328738 -6
OZM 17 186191 1

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $286 million. That figure was $284 million in ODP’s case. Lithia Motors Inc (NYSE:LAD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Office Depot Inc (NYSE:ODP) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

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