Is West Corp (WSTC) Going to Burn These Hedge Funds?

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Consequently, key money managers have been driving this bullishness. Hutchin Hill Capital, led by Neil Chriss, initiated the most valuable position in West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC). Hutchin Hill Capital had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors also made a $0.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are James Dondero’s Highland Capital Management and Joshua Packwood and Schuster Tanger’s Radix Partners.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR), Diebold Incorporated (NYSE:DBD), Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGBN), and Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to WSTC’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
CYBR 20 175177 -2
DBD 19 288057 4
EGBN 16 32287 4
SCS 18 68883 -2

As you can see these stocks had an average of 18 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $141 million. That figure was $42 million in WSTC’s case. Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGBN) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks West Corp (NASDAQ:WSTC) is even less popular than EGBN. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None

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