Hedge Funds Are Betting On First American Financial Corp (FAF)

Consequently, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Fisher Asset Management assembled the most valuable position in First American Financial Corp (NYSE:FAF). Marshall Wace LLP also made a $9.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management, Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, and Peter Muller’s PDT Partners.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to First American Financial Corp (NYSE:FAF). We will take a look at National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE:NFG), Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR), Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (NYSE:CBI), and Trimble Navigation Limited (NASDAQ:TRMB). This group of stocks’ market values match FAF’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 26 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $457 million, versus the $393 million figure in FAF’s case. Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE:NFG) is the least popular one with only 22 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks First American Financial Corp (NYSE:FAF) is even less popular than NFG. 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.