How Centurylink Inc (CTL) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

As one would reasonably expect, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Maplelane Capital, managed by Leon Shaulov, assembled the most valuable call position in CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL). Maplelane Capital had $16.5 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $5.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL) but similarly valued. These stocks are Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), Liberty Interactive Corp (NASDAQ:QVCA), Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE), and Smith & Nephew plc (ADR) (NYSE:SNN). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to CTL’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 45 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.12 billion. That figure was $395 million in CTL’s case. Liberty Interactive Corp (NASDAQ:QVCA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Smith & Nephew plc (ADR) (NYSE:SNN) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL) 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 QVCA might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None