Here is What Hedge Funds Think About EXCO Resources Inc (XCO)

Now, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Laurion Capital Management, led by Benjamin A. Smith, established the most outsized position in EXCO Resources Inc (NYSE:XCO). According to its latest 13F filing, the fund had $1.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management also made a $0.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new XCO positions are Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as EXCO Resources Inc (NYSE:XCO) but similarly valued. These stocks are Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE:NCT), Fidus Investment Corp (NASDAQ:FDUS), WashingtonFirst Bankshares Inc (NASDAQ:WFBI), and Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to XCO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 8 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $21 million. That figure was $131 million in XCO’s case. Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand WashingtonFirst Bankshares Inc (NASDAQ:WFBI) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. EXCO Resources Inc (NYSE:XCO) 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 GCAP might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: none.