Is Synchrony Financial (SYF) A Good Stock To Buy?

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Highbridge Capital Management assembled the largest position in Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF). Highbridge Capital Management had $31.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Robert Henry Lynch’s Aristeia Capital also made a $7.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new SYF positions are Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, George Hall’s Clinton Group, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) but similarly valued. These stocks are American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), IntercontinentalExchange Inc (NYSE:ICE), PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), and Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to SYF’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 43.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.34 billion, significantly higher than the $292 million figure in SYF’s case. American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) 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 AAL might be a better candidate to consider for a long bet.