Is Avista Corp (AVA) A Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA) has experienced a declining sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s safe to say that there was a specific group of fund managers who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies sold off the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds tracked by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $2.6 million in stock. Paul Tudor Jones’ fund, Tudor Investment Corp, also sold off its stock, about $0.3 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest dropped by 1 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA) but similarly valued. These stocks are Stantec Inc. (USA) (NYSE:STN), The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. (NYSE:MW), GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB), and La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to AVA’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $394 million, compared to just $45 million in AVA’s case. The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. (NYSE:MW) is the most popular stock in this table, while Stantec Inc. (USA) (NYSE:STN) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Avista Corp (NYSE:AVA) 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 MW might be a better candidate to consider a long position.