Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Boston Beer Co Inc (SAM)

Because Boston Beer Co Inc (NYSE:SAM) has faced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Interestingly, Michael R. Weisberg’s Crestwood Capital Management cut the biggest stake of the 700 funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $10.9 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also cut its stock, about $7.6 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Boston Beer Co Inc (NYSE:SAM) but similarly valued. These stocks are Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR), Vector Group Ltd (NYSE:VGR), DCP Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:DPM), and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC). This group of stocks’ market valuations match SAM’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $376 million. That figure was $271 million in SAM’s case. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (NASDAQ:HMHC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand DCP Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:DPM) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Boston Beer Co Inc (NYSE:SAM) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard HMHC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.