Is Lumos Networks Corp (LMOS) A Good Stock To Buy?

Seeing as Lumos Networks Corp (NASDAQ:LMOS) has faced declining sentiment from the smart money, we can see that there exists a select few hedge funds that slashed their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management said goodbye to the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $3 million in stock.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Lumos Networks Corp (NASDAQ:LMOS) but similarly valued. These stocks are SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQI), Hi-Crush Partners LP (NYSE:HCLP), Pacific Ethanol Inc (NASDAQ:PEIX), and KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ:KMPH). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to LMOS’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $39 million. That figure was $60 million in LMOS’s case. SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQI) and Pacific Ethanol Inc (NASDAQ:PEIX) are the most popular stocks in this table. On the other hand KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ:KMPH) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Lumos Networks Corp (NASDAQ:LMOS) is not the least popular stock in this group, but it has the same number of funds with long positions as the average for the four stocks in the table. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SQI or PEIZ might be better candidates to consider a long position.