Is Park Electrochemical Corp. (PKE) A Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) has faced a declination in interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, logic holds that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their positions entirely in the third quarter. Interestingly, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw cut the biggest investment of the 700 funds monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $0.4 million in stock. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $0.3 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP), Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSBK), Sun Bancorp, Inc. /NJ (NASDAQ:SNBC), and Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSII). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble PKE’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 $60 million. That figure was $70 million in PKE’s case, a positive sign. Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sun Bancorp, Inc. /NJ (NASDAQ:SNBC) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard GCAP might be a better candidate to consider a long position.