Is Bemis Company, Inc. (BMS) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, key money managers have jumped into Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS) headfirst. Winton Capital Management, managed by David Harding, created the biggest position in Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS). The fund reportedly had $11.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new BMS positions are George Hall’s Clinton Group and Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI), Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS), Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA), and Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to BMS’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 28 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $597 million. That figure was a meager $199 million in BMS’s case. Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS) is the most popular stock in this table, while Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) is the laggard with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Bemis Company, Inc. (NYSE:BMS) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard ARRS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.