Is Nucor Corporation (NUE) Worthy of Your Portfolio?

Seeing as Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) has faced falling interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of money managers that slashed their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Principal Global Investors’ Columbus Circle Investors dumped the largest investment of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $70.1 million in stock, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $24.9 million worth of shares.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Smith & Nephew plc (ADR) (NYSE:SNN), Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE:CXO), Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SHG), and POSCO (ADR) (NYSE:PKX). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble NUE’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $266 million. That figure was $416 million in NUE’s case. Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE:CXO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:SHG) is the least popular one with only seven bullish hedge fund positions. Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) 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, Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE:CXO) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.