Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST): Are Hedge Funds Right To Be Bullish?

With general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers have been driving this optimism. Hitchwood Capital Management, led by James Crichton, created the most valuable position in Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST). Hitchwood Capital Management had $44 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $23.3 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MNST investors: Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Solomon Kumin’s Folger Hill Asset Management, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), Manulife Financial Corporation (USA) (NYSE:MFC), PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG), and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN). This group of stocks’ market values match MNST’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.07 billion. That figure was $1.69 billion in MNST’s case. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Manulife Financial Corporation (USA) (NYSE:MFC) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) 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 ALXN might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None