Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (AXAS): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness. D E Shaw assembled the biggest position in Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS). D E Shaw had $0.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Renaissance Technologies also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS) but similarly valued. These stocks are Pioneer Energy Services Corp (NYSE:PES), Dynamic Materials Corporation (NASDAQ:BOOM), AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX), and Cherokee Inc. (NASDAQ:CHKE). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 10 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $24 million. That figure was $4 million in Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS)’s case. Pioneer Energy Services Corp (NYSE:PES) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Cherokee Inc. (NASDAQ:CHKE) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:AXAS) 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, Pioneer Energy Services Corp (NYSE:PES) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.