Have Hedge Funds Discovered An Unpolished Gem in Central Garden & Pet Co (CENT)?

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Principal Global Investors, assembled the largest position in Central Garden & Pet Co (NASDAQ:CENT). Columbus Circle Investors had $5.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jonathan Lourie and Stuart Fiertz’s Cheyne Capital also initiated a $3.6 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new CENT positions are Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Central Garden & Pet Co (NASDAQ:CENT). These stocks are MSG Networks Inc (NYSE:MSGN), Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR), Seres Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MCRB), and Spartan Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPTN). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to CENT’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 20.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $142 million. That figure was $115 million in CENT’s case. Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Seres Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MCRB) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Central Garden & Pet Co (NASDAQ:CENT) 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 EXPR might be a better candidate to consider a long position in.

Disclosure: None