Is State Bank Financial Corp (STBZ) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

Earlier we told you that the aggregate hedge fund interest in the stock was unchanged and we view this as a negative development. Even though there weren’t any hedge funds dumping their holdings during the third quarter, there weren’t any hedge funds initiating brand new positions. This indicates that hedge funds, at the very best, perceive this stock as dead money and they haven’t identified any viable catalysts that can attract investor attention.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to State Bank Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STBZ). These stocks are Vascular Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:VASC), Fox Factory Holding Corp (NASDAQ:FOXF), SPX Corporation (NYSE:SPXC), and Wingstop Inc (NASDAQ:WING). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to STBZ’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 12 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $64 million. That figure was $99 million in STBZ’s case. SPX Corporation (NYSE:SPXC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Fox Factory Holding Corp (NASDAQ:FOXF) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. State Bank Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STBZ) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is just average. This is a neutral signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SPXC might be a better candidate to consider taking a long position in.