Is IDEX Corporation (IEX) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have jumped into IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) headfirst. Millennium Management, led by Israel Englander, assembled the most outsized position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX). Millennium Management had $3.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners also initiated a $2.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new IEX positions are Simon Sadler’s Segantii Capital and George Soros’ Soros Fund Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX). We will take a look at Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TARO), Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII), Reinsurance Group of America Inc (NYSE:RGA), and Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI). This group of stocks’ market values match IEX’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $272 million. That figure was $185 million in IEX’s case. Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TARO) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) 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 MELI might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None