Is Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (ACRE) A Good Stock To Buy?

As one would reasonably expect, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Millennium Management established the most valuable position in Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (NYSE:ACRE). Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also initiated a $0.6 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new ACRE position is Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (NYSE:ACRE) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI), Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSBK), Independent Bank Corporation(MI) (NASDAQ:IBCP), and Clearside Biomedical Inc (NASDAQ:CLSD). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to ACRE’s market valuation.

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 $49 million. That figure was $10 million in ACRE’s case. Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSBK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corp (NYSE:ACRE) 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 CSBK might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.

Disclosure: None