Is Waters Corporation (WAT) A Good Stock To Buy?

Seeing as Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) has experienced declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, logic holds that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely in the third quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP sold off the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $5.6 million in stock. Glenn Russell Dubin’s fund, Highbridge Capital Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $2.5 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 2 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (ADR) (NYSE:EOC), Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY), and Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to WAT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $923 million, compared to $621 million in WAT’s case. Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (ADR) (NYSE:EOC) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) 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 XEC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.