Is RBC Bearings Incorporated (ROLL) A Good Stock to Buy?

Now, some big names have jumped into RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL) headfirst. Marshall Wace LLP created the biggest position in RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL). Marshall Wace LLP had $1.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new ROLL investors: Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL) but similarly valued. These stocks are Forum Energy Technologies Inc (NYSE:FET), The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ:ABCO), Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN), and GATX Corporation (NYSE:GATX). This group of stocks’ market caps resemble ROLL’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $99 million. That figure was $77 million in ROLL’s case. Forum Energy Technologies Inc (NYSE:FET) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE:MAIN) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL) 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 FET might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None