Is La Quinta Holdings Inc (LQ) A Good Stock To Buy?

Judging by the fact that La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ) has faced falling interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, logic holds that there is a sect of funds who sold off their entire stakes in the third quarter. Intriguingly, Ken Heebner’s Capital Growth Management dumped the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at close to $58.7 million. Tom Sandell’s fund, Sandell Asset Management, also cut its investment, about $13.4 million worth of LQ shares. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 5 funds in the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ). We will take a look at BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP), Gold Fields Limited (ADR) (NYSE:GFI), Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS), and Cheetah Mobile Inc (ADR) (NYSE:CMCM). This group of stocks’ market valuations match LQ’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $113 million. BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Cheetah Mobile Inc (ADR) (NYSE:CMCM) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. La Quinta Holdings Inc (NYSE:LQ) clearly outshines all the stocks from this group, having also attracted more of the hedgies’ money, as overall investment stood at $319 million at the end of the quarter. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.