Is Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (PTLA) A Good Stock To Buy?

As aggregate interest increased, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Cupps Capital Management, managed by Drew Cupps, established the biggest position in Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA). Cupps Capital Management had $3.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Investment Corp also initiated a $0.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital, Vishal Saluja and Pham Quang’s Endurant Capital Management, and Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA) but similarly valued. These stocks are CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX), Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB), Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI), and Banco Macro SA (ADR) (NYSE:BMA). All of these stocks’ market caps match PTLA’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $337 million, which is lower than the $700 million in PTLA’s case. CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Banco Macro SA (ADR) (NYSE:BMA) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.