Is INC Research Holdings Inc (INCR) A Good Stock To Buy?

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, initiated the largest position in INC Research Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:INCR). Balyasny Asset Management had $6.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Nick Niell’s Arrowgrass Capital Partners also initiated an $3.4 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new INCR investors: David Rodriguez-Fraile’s BlueMar Capital Management, David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to INC Research Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:INCR). These stocks are Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS), Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE:DRQ), Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) (NYSE:ELP), and Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to INCR’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 16.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $221 million. That figure was $209 million in INCR’s case. Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) (NYSE:ELP) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. INC Research Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:INCR) 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 PTLA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.