Are Hedge Funds Losing Interest in Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (VRX)?

Due to the fact that Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) has experienced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, we can see that there lies a certain “tier” of funds that slashed their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Marc Lisker, Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan’s MSDC Management said goodbye to the biggest position of all the hedgies tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at about $217.2 million in stock, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund said goodbye to about $184.1 million worth of shares. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 5 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). These stocks are Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), and General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to VRX’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 30 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $882 million. That figure was $12.56 billion in VRX’s case. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is the most popular stock in this table, while Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) is the least popular one with only 24 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) 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, since many top investors are still bullish on the stock, despite its abysmal performance.

Disclosure: None