Is Astronics Corporation (ATRO) A Good Stock To Buy?

As industrywide interest jumped, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group made a $3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new ATRO positions are Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital, and John Zaro’s Bourgeon Capital.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO). These stocks are Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV), TPG Specialty Lending Inc (NYSE:TSLX), Continental Building Products Inc (NYSE:CBPX), and Virtus Investment Partners Inc (NASDAQ:VRTS). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to ATRO’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $65 million. That figure was $32 million in ATRO’s case. Continental Building Products Inc (NYSE:CBPX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ:ATRO), with 19 bullish hedge fund positions is not the most popular stock in this group, but it has attracted attention from investors above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are collectively most bullish on. In this regard, CBPX might be a better alternative.