Here is What Hedge Funds Think About eLong, Inc. (ADR) (LONG)

At the top of the heap, Brian Jackelow’s SAB Capital Management sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $5.3 million in stock, and Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.3 million worth. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to eLong, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:LONG). We will take a look at MINDBODY Inc (NASDAQ:MB), Performance Sports Group Ltd (NYSE:PSG), Patrick Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:PATK), and Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE:PIR). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to LONG’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $51 million. That figure was $47 million in LONG’s case. Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE:PIR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand MINDBODY Inc (NASDAQ:MB) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks eLong, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:LONG) is even less popular than MB. 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.