Is Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA) A Good Stock To Buy?

Because Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA) has experienced falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of money managers who were dropping their positions entirely in the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dumped the biggest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at about $2.7 million in stock, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $0.8 million worth. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA). These stocks are Caesars Acquisition Company (NASDAQ:CACQ), Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN), Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX), and Mantech International Corp (NASDAQ:MANT). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble IMKTA’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $109 million. That figure was $95 million in IMKTA’s case. Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Caesars Acquisition Company (NASDAQ:CACQ) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ:IMKTA) is even less popular than CACQ. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.