Is OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (OMN) Worthy of Your Portfolio?

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital initiated the most outsized position in OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN). Arrowstreet Capital had $2.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group also made a $0.7 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, Joshua Packwood and Schuster Tanger’s Radix Partners, and Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Potbelly Corp (NASDAQ:PBPB), NewLink Genetics Corp (NASDAQ:NLNK), Versartic Inc (NASDAQ:VSAR), and Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST). This group of stocks’ market valuations match OMN’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 15 investors with long positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $78 million. That figure was $43 million in OMN’s case. Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) is the most popular stock in this table, while NewLink Genetics Corp (NASDAQ:NLNK) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OMN) 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, Casella Waste Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CWST) might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.