Is Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (ANAC) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, assembled the most outsized position in Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC). The fund reportedly had $36.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP also made a $14.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management, Simon Sadler’s Segantii Capital, and Kris Jenner, Gordon Bussard, Graham McPhail’s Rock Springs Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY), EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK), and athenahealth, Inc (NASDAQ:ATHN). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble ANAC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $327 million. Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EnLink Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:ENLK) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANAC) is clearly more popular among hedge funds, having also attracted $1.5 billion in investments, significantly north of the average. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.