Do Hedge Funds Love Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMPH)?

Judging by the fact that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH) has experienced bearish sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there is a sect of fund managers who sold off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Vishal Saluja and Pham Quang’s Endurant Capital Management got rid of the biggest investment of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, valued at about $0.8 million in stock, and D E Shaw, one of the biggest hedge funds in the world was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $0.2 million worth of shares.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH). We will take a look at Sonic Automotive Inc (NYSE:SAH), Hi-Crush Partners LP (NYSE:HCLP), Tile Shop Hldgs, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTS), and CenterState Banks Inc (NASDAQ:CSFL). This group of stocks’ market valuations match AMPH’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $65 million. That figure was $13 million in AMPH’s case. CenterState Banks Inc (NASDAQ:CSFL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Hi-Crush Partners LP (NYSE:HCLP) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AMPH) is even less popular than HCLP. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None