Should You Buy Valero Energy Corporation (VLO)?

Consequently, some big names have jumped into Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, established a position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO). Arrowstreet Capital had $61.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $41.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Jonathan Barrett and Paul Segal’s Luminus Management, Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital, and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) but similarly valued. We will take a look at eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT), Liberty Global PLC LiLAC Class A (NASDAQ:LILA), and Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to VLO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1144 million. That figure was $1843 million in VLO’s case. eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Syngenta AG (ADR) (NYSE:SYT) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) is not the most popular stock in this group, but it has attracted attention from the investors above average. Although this may indicate it is a stock worth considering, we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are collectively the fondest of and, in this case, EBAY might be a better alternative.