Is Westlake Chemical Corporation (WLK) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

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Because Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK) has experienced a declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies who sold off their positions entirely last quarter. Interestingly, Jacob Doft’s Highline Capital Management sold off the largest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling about $26.4 million in stock, and Lawrence Sapanski’s Scoria Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $2.4 million worth of shares. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK). We will take a look at Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR), Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc (NYSE:EVHC), and Harman International Industries Inc./DE/ (NYSE:HAR). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK)‘s market valuation.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
GRMN 19 146741 -3
SPR 50 2778442 5
EVHC 32 1194040 3
HAR 27 404238 10

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 32 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.13 billion. That figure was $768 million in Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK)‘s case. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) is the least popular one with only 19 bullish hedge fund positions. Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK) 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, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

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