Is VCA Inc (WOOF) A Good Stock To Buy?

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Coe Capital Management, managed by Mark Coe, established the largest position in VCA Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF). Coe Capital Management had $4.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group also made a $3.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Mike Vranos’ Ellington, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as VCA Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF) but similarly valued. We will take a look at MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. (NYSE:EOCC), and CBOE Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble WOOF’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $960 million. That figure was $479 million in WOOF’s case. Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. (NYSE:EOCC) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. VCA Inc (NASDAQ:WOOF) 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 HLF might be a better candidate to consider a long position.