Is Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) A Good Stock To Buy?

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Melvin Capital Management, managed by Gabriel Plotkin, assembled the biggest position in Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO). Melvin Capital Management had $23.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw also initiated a $4.6 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new TSCO investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt., and John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LNG), Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL), and TransDigm Group Incorporated (NYSE:TDG). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to TSCO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 45.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $3,118 million. That figure was $237 million in TSCO’s case. Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEAMEX:LNG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL) is the least popular one with only 23 bullish hedge fund positions. Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) 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 LNG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.