Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (BONT) Anymore

Because The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their positions entirely heading into Q4. Intriguingly, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors cut the largest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $0.5 million in stock. Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s fund, LMR Partners, also dumped its stock, about $0.1 million worth.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Gulf Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:GURE), Aviat Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AVNW), Carolina Bank Holding Inc. (NC) (NASDAQ:CLBH), and Vericel Corp (NASDAQ:VCEL). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to BONT’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $12 million, versus $16 million in BONT’s case. Vericel Corp (NASDAQ:VCEL) is the most popular stock in this table with 6 funds holding shares. On the other hand Gulf Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:GURE) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) 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.