Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Donaldson Company, Inc. (DCI)

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Generation Investment Management, managed by David Blood and Al Gore, created the most valuable position in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI), valued at $18.4 million as mentioned before. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $2.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new DCI investors: George Hall’s Clinton Group, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, and Tom Gayner’s Markel Gayner Asset Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS), Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA), Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN), and Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to DCI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $598 million. That figure was just $113 million in DCI’s case. Arris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) is the least popular one with only 24 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) is even less popular than SON. 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.