Is Northwest Pipe Company (NWPX) A Good Stock To Buy?

Earlier we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and they haven’t identified any viable catalysts that can attract investor attention.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB), Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI), Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI), and Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ:TZOO). This group of stocks’ market values is similar to Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX)’s market value.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 7 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $10 million. That figure was $19 million in Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX)’s case. Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ:TZOO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI) is the least popular one with only 4 bullish hedge fund positions. Northwest Pipe Company (NASDAQ:NWPX) 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 Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ:TZOO) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.