Is Lion Biotechnologies Inc (LBIO) A Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) has experienced a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies who sold off their entire stakes heading into Q4. Interestingly, Jason Karp’s Tourbillon Capital Partners sold off the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $7 million in stock. Peter Muller’s fund, PDT Partners, also cut its stock, about $0.6 million worth of shares. These transactions are interesting, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 6 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO). These stocks are Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTPH), The York Water Company (NASDAQ:YORW), Akarti Therapeutics PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:AKTX), and Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to LBIO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $38 million. That figure was $83 million in LBIO’s case. Trinity Biotech plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRIB) is the most popular stock in this table, while The York Water Company (NASDAQ:YORW) is at the other end of the specter with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Lion Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:LBIO) 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 TRIB might be a better candidate to consider a long position.