Is PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) A Good Stock To Buy?

Seeing as PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) has faced a declining sentiment from the smart money, logic holds that there was a specific group of funds who were dropping their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management sold off the biggest investment of the 700 funds followed by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $173.1 million in stock. Steve Cohen’s fund, Point72 Asset Management, also sold off its stock, about $18.8 million worth of shares. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR), Reynolds American, Inc. (NYSE:RAI), and Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY). This group of stocks’ market valuations is similar to PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP)’s market valuation.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 35 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.83 billion. That figure was $6.74 billion in PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP)’s case. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, PetroChina Company Limited (ADR) (NYSE:PTR) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) 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, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.