Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (CTB) Anymore

Judging by the fact that Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) has witnessed a decline in sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there lies a certain “tier” of funds who were dropping their full holdings last quarter. Interestingly, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $44.5 million in stock, and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $7.6 million worth of CTB shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds last quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI), Banco Macro SA (ADR) (NYSE:BMA), Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG), and Bloomin’ Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble CTB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $191 million. That figure was $121 million in CTB’s case, below average, which not a positive sign. Bloomin’ Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BLMN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Companhia Energetica Minas Gerais (ADR) (NYSE:CIG) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. While this is a slightly positive signal, we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard BLMN might be a better candidate to consider a long position.