Is Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) A Good Stock To Buy?

Seeing as Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few fund managers that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital dropped the largest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, comprising an estimated $0.8 million in stock, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:UVE), Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IILG), California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT), and Sibanye Gold Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:SBGL). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to MMSI’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $54 million. That figure was $94 million in MMSI’s case. Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:UVE) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sibanye Gold Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:SBGL) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MMSI) is tied for the most popular stock in this group and that makes MMSI worth a closer look.