Is Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (BIDU) a Good Stock to Buy?

Consequently, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Hillhouse Capital Management, managed by Lei Zhang, created the biggest position in Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU). Hillhouse Capital Management had $224.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also made a $174.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new BIDU positions are Ram Seshan Venkateswaran’s Vernier Capital, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Charles de Vaulx’s International Value Advisers.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) but similarly valued. These stocks are Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON), Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK), Public Storage (NYSE:PSA), and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to BIDU’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 39 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.71 billion. That figure was $4.13 billion in BIDU’s case. Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) is the least popular one with only 23 bullish hedge fund positions. Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) 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 Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.