Hedge Funds Are Buying J&J Snack Foods Corp. (JJSF)

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, assembled the largest position in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF). Millennium Management had $0.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Platt and William Reeves’s BlueCrest Capital Mgmt. also made a $0.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) but similarly valued. These stocks are NRG Yield, Inc. Class C (NYSE:NYLD), Esterline Technologies Corporation (NYSE:ESL), Parsley Energy Inc (NYSE:PE), and Tri Pointe Homes Inc (NYSE:TPH). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to JJSF’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $391 million. That figure was $64 million in J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF)’s case. NRG Yield, Inc. Class C (NYSE:NYLD) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Tri Pointe Homes Inc (NYSE:TPH) is the least popular one with only 20 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ:JJSF) is even less popular than Tri Pointe Homes Inc (NYSE:TPH). 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.