Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Cognex Corporation (CGNX)

Judging by the fact that Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has witnessed declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there exists a select few funds that decided to sell off their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Clifford Fox’s Columbus Circle Investors cut the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $50.6 million in stock. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s fund, Arrowstreet Capital, also dropped its stock, valued at around $7.3 million. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 8 funds last quarter.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE:USM), Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV (ADR) (NYSE:VLRS), Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL), and Leidos Holdings Inc (NYSE:LDOS). This group of stocks’ market values are similar to CGNX’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $180 million. That figure was $128 million in CGNX’s case. Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE:USM) and Controladora Vuela Co Avcn SA CV (ADR) (NYSE:VLRS) are the least popular ones with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CRL might be a better candidate to consider a long position.