Here Is What Hedge Funds Think About KLA-Tencor Corporation (KLAC)

Consequently, some big names have jumped into KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) headfirst. Water Island Capital, managed by John Orrico, created the most outsized position in KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC). Water Island Capital had $26.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies also initiated an $11.8 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new KLAC investors: Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners, and Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG), Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT), CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP), and AMERCO (NASDAQ:UHAL). This group of stocks’ market caps match KLAC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $712 million. That figure was $256 million in KLAC’s case. Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) 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 IPG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.