Should You Buy Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL)?

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. OrbiMed Advisors initiated the most valuable position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL). Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also made a $36 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, Mark Kingdon’s Kingdon Capital, and Kenneth Tropin’s Graham Capital Management.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Northwest Natural Gas Co (NYSE:NWN), Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF), Tetra Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEK), and Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE:B). This group of stocks’ market valuations resemble EXEL’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 funds with long positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $86 million. That figure was $506 million in EXEL’s case. Greif, Inc. (NYSE:GEF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Northwest Natural Gas Co (NYSE:NWN) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.