Should You Avoid Trueblue Inc (TBI)?

Seeing as Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) has weathered declining sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of funds that slashed their positions entirely heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital cashed in the largest position of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $0.9 million in stock, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.4 million worth of shares.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO), Team, Inc. (NYSE:TISI), Unit Corporation (NYSE:UNT), and Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:NCI). All of these stocks’ market caps match TBI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $58 million. That figure was $120 million in TBI’s case. Unit Corporation (NYSE:UNT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI) 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 UNT might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.