Should You Buy SpartanNash Co (SPTN)?

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Highland Capital Management, led by James Dondero, assembled the biggest position in SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN). Highland Capital Management had $0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management also initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments and Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN). We will take a look at CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR), Cynosure, Inc. (NASDAQ:CYNO), Installed Building Products Inc (NYSE:IBP), and Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to SPTN’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $150 million. That figure was $56 million in SPTN’s case. Penn National Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:PENN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand CVR Refining LP (NYSE:CVRR) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ:SPTN) 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 PENN might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None