Are Hedge Funds Right To Grow More Bullish On AAR Corp. (AIR)?

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. SG Capital Management assembled the biggest position in AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR). SG Capital Management had $7.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Principal Global Investors’ Columbus Circle Investors also made a $2.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AIR positions are John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) but similarly valued. These stocks are Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW), New Media Investment Group Inc (NYSE:NEWM), Southside Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBSI), and 51job, Inc. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JOBS). All of these stocks’ market caps match AIR’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $50 million. That figure was $88 million in AIR’s case. New Media Investment Group Inc (NYSE:NEWM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Southside Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBSI) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) 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 NEWM might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None