Is National Instruments Corp (NATI) A Good Stock To Buy?

As one would reasonably expect, specific money managers have jumped into National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI) headfirst. Generation Investment Management, founded by former presidential candidate Al Gore, initiated the most outsized position in National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI). Generation Investment Management had $21 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Hondros’s AlphaOne Capital Partners also made a $2.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI), Paramount Group Inc (NYSE:PGRE), Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN), and Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to NATI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $908 million. That figure was $245 million in NATI’s case. CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Vermilion Energy Inc (NYSE:VET) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. National Instruments Corp (NASDAQ:NATI) 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 CVI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.