Hedge Funds Aren’t Crazy About Utah Medical Products, Inc. (UTMD) Anymore

We view hedge fund activity in the stock unfavorable, but in this case there was only a single hedge fund selling its entire position: Wallace Capital Management. One hedge fund selling its entire position doesn’t always imply a bearish intent. Theoretically a hedge fund may decide to sell a promising position in order to invest the proceeds in a more promising idea. However, we don’t think this is the case in this case because none of the 700+ hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey identified UTMD as a viable investment and initiated a position in the stock.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) but similarly valued. These stocks are Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE:GNE), Hallador Energy Co (NASDAQ:HNRG), DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSPG), and Park City Group, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:PCYG). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to UTMD’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 6.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $13 million. That figure was $22 million in UTMD’s case. Hallador Energy Co (NASDAQ:HNRG) is the most popular stock in this table, while Genie Energy Ltd (NYSE:GNE) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) is even less popular than GNE. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.