Is Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (ABX) a Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) has experienced falling interest from the smart money, logic holds that there is a sect of fund managers that slashed their positions entirely between July and September. First Eagle Investment Management cut the biggest stake of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $800.7 million in call options, and Bruce Kovner’s Caxton Associates LP was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $324.5 million worth of shares.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB), Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), and CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS). This group of stocks’ market valuations match ABX’s market valuation.

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 $2.28 billion. That figure was $1.72 billion in ABX’s case. Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) is the most popular stock in this table, while AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE:AVB) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) 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 Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.