Is United Rentals, Inc. (URI) A Good Stock To Buy?

With a general bullishness among the heavyweights, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Point State Capital, managed by Zach Schreiber, initiated the biggest position in United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI). Point State Capital had $43.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $18.8 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new URI positions are D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, and Larry Foley and Paul Farrell’s Bronson Point Partners.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) but similarly valued. These stocks are STERIS Corp (NYSE:STE), Michaels Companies Inc (NASDAQ:MIK), Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS), and Brookfield Property Partners LP (NYSE:BPY). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to URI’s market value.

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 $394 million. That figure was $540 million in URI’s case. Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Brookfield Property Partners LP (NYSE:BPY) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) 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.