Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About UniFirst Corp (UNF) Anymore

Because UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF) has experienced a bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there was a specific group of funds that slashed their entire stakes in the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital dropped the largest stake of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $1.1 million in stock. Peter Muller’s fund, PDT Partners, also cut its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF). We will take a look at Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp (NYSE:VAC), Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT), Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ:WAFD), and PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to UNF’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $107 million, compared to $328 million in UNF’s case. Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PS Business Parks Inc (NYSE:PSB) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF) 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 SWFT might be a better candidate to consider a long position.