Is FLIR Systems, Inc. (FLIR) A Good Stock To Buy?

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) headfirst. PDT Partners, managed by Peter Muller, established the largest position in FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR). PDT Partners had $1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Harding’s Winton Capital Management also made an $0.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new FLIR positions are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, George Hall’s Clinton Group, and Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt..

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR). We will take a look at Energen Corporation (NYSE:EGN), MAXIMUS, Inc. (NYSE:MMS), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO), and Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble FLIR’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $313 million. That figure was $213 million in FLIR’s case. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:BIO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand MAXIMUS, Inc. (NYSE:MMS) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) 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 BIO might be a better candidate to consider a long position.