Is Praxair, Inc. (PX) A Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers that slashed their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. At the top of the heap, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $193.2 million in stock, and Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $17.9 million worth. These moves are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 1 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS), TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP), LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), and Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to PX’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.18 billion. That figure was $536 million in PX’s case. LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Barclays PLC (ADR) (NYSE:BCS) is the least popular one with only 14 bullish hedge fund positions. Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX) 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 LYB might be a better candidate to consider a long position.