Is AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) A Good Stock To Buy?

Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Renaissance Technologies assembled the largest position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO). Renaissance Technologies had $30.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also initiated a $28.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AZO positions are Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Charles Anderson’s Fox Point Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) but similarly valued. These stocks are Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX), PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), and Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (NYSE:ETE). This group of stocks’ market caps matches AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 32 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.74 billion. That figure was $1.22 billion in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)’s case. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is the least popular one with only 23 bullish hedge fund positions. AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) 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, Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.