Is Pool Corporation (POOL) A Good Stock To Buy?

Now, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Renaissance Technologies, founded by billionaire Jim Simons, created the most valuable position in Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL). Renaissance Technologies had $14 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s quant hedge fund Two Sigma Advisors also made a $2.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new POOL investors: Mike Vranos’ Ellington, Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) but similarly valued. These stocks are Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR), Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI), Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX), and USG Corporation (NYSE:USG). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to POOL’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $614 million. That figure was $205 million in POOL’s case. Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard NBIX might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.