Layne Christensen Company (LAYN): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

Since Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN) has witnessed falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there exists a select few fund managers who sold off their full holdings heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management said goodbye to the largest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, worth close to $1.2 million in stock. Peter Muller’s fund, PDT Partners, also sold off its stock, about $0.3 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 7 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN) but similarly valued. These stocks are BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ:BIOS), Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBIO), Alcobra Ltd (NASDAQ:ADHD), and Destination Maternity Corp (NASDAQ:DEST). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN)’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $38 million. That figure was $46 million in Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN)’s case. BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ:BIOS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBIO) is the least popular one with only 7 bullish hedge fund positions. Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ:LAYN) 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, BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ:BIOS) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.